Frailty Primary Care: An automatic electronic frailty index in Australian primary care and a toolkit for action
The Frailty Primary Care study, which aims to integrate frailty measurement into primary care systems in Australia and deliver novel decision-support tools to enable comprehensive frailty management. This study is funded through a grant from the federal government (2023 Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Multidisciplinary Models of Primary Care) and is led by myself, Professor Mark Morgan, General Practitioner (Bond University), and Professor Ruth Hubbard, Geriatrician (The University of Queensland).
As part of this study, we aim to develop a Frailty Implementation Toolkit (FIT) to be delivered by primary care teams. The FIT will be co-designed with and tested by the primary care team members (e.g., GPs, nurse practitioners, allied health professionals, pharmacists, practice managers, administrative staff), as well as consumers and caregivers.
What Participation Involves
We will achieve our aim through focus groups, co-design workshops, and interviews involving primary care team members. The Frailty Implementation Toolkit (FIT) developed through this process will be tested at the participating practices to assess workflows and materials. The attached invitation and diagram summarises the steps involved in this phase of the project. Primary care practices and staff may choose to participate in one or more of these activities. Later in the project, participating practices will also be invited to take part in an evaluation of the implementation of the FIT (this is not part of the current phase).
Role of Practice Staff
We ask the Practice Manager to invite eligible practice team members to participate by sharing an Email Invitation prepared by the research team. Interested staff members can then contact the researchers directly by email or by completing an online or paper-based Expression of Interest form.
We would be happy to host the focus groups or workshops at your practice, or at the offices of the Gold Coast PHN, depending on what is most suitable.
We would welcome the opportunity to talk through the research activities involved in the project with interested practices. One of our team members will call your practice within two weeks of this letter to explain the study further, provide an opportunity to ask questions, and formally invite you to take part. We can also arrange an online meeting to answer any further questions if required.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like more information about the study, feel free to contact the study team on +61 7 3443 8980 or email frailty-pc@uq.edu.au.
Kind regards
Professor Mark Morgan