Frailty in Home Care

Home care refers to a range of services provided to older adults in their own homes to help them maintain independence, manage chronic conditions, and improve their overall well-being. The number of homebound older adults is rapidly growing because of profound demographic changes among older populations worldwide. The homebound population is often older, dependent, multimorbid, and frail. The homebound population repeatedly uses the hospital as the main source of care. However, hospitalized older adults with frailty often develop nosocomial complications, mortality, and higher utilization creating a huge burden to healthcare systems. Caring for the homebound older adult with frailty demands a realignment of healthcare systems from a hospital-centered to a community-based model. Home care may be an effective and efficient care approach for homebound individuals with frailty who usually suffer from a combination of complex physical, functional, cognitive, and social problems. As frailty is highly prevalent in this population, screening for frailty is recommended as it may lead to the early implementation of individualized comprehensive interventions that may mitigate the progression of frailty and associated conditions and thereby improving their healthcare outcomes and quality of life.