Introduction
Purpose
Frailty is more than a person’s age; it’s a state of exaggerated vulnerability that arises from a combination of a number of factors. The purpose of the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) is to help doctors, care providers and researchers better understand these factors, in order to tailor care appropriately. With the EFS, care providers are equipped with both a global frailty measure, as well as a means of identifying specific areas of vulnerability.
Nine Aspects of Frailty
The Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) assesses Nine Aspects of Frailty:
Cognition
General Health Status
Functional Independence
Social Support
Medication Use
Nutrition
Mood
Continence
Functional Performance
By identifying which aspects of frailty are relevant to the patient, providers can help patients and their families make better decisions.
Breakdown of Items
The eleven items on the EFS represent nine aspects of health. A higher score on any given item represents more frailty in the aspect of health that the item represents.
The scoring for these eleven items falls into three categories
The Clock Test and the Get Up & Go are based on the performance of the individual
If the patient scores a 1 or a 2 on the clock test, then items marked with asterisk indicate that input from an accompanying person is permitted
All other questions are to be answered by the Interviewee without input from an accompanying person
