Educating and Training the Workforce

A large percentage of people older than 85 years are estimated to be frail, and they have a substantially increased risk of poor outcomes. These outcomes emphasize the need to ensure providers’ competency in frailty screening, assessment, and treatment. We embarked on a review of the current state of frailty education worldwide and found that, while many consensus-derived educational objectives have been created, knowledge of frailty and its management remains inadequate among practicing clinicians around the world, with the notable exception of a few European countries. Clinical practice guidelines and quality measures that mandate diagnosis and treatment of frailty, with an emphasis on interprofessional team competencies, are necessary to push frailty education forward. Furthermore, collaboration is needed between high-income, mid-, and low-income countries to determine what is feasible to include in curricula worldwide and reach consensus recommendations for frailty education on a global level.