Developing and pilot testing a frailty-focused education and communication training workshop

Abstract

Objective: To describe development and pilot testing of a multi-modal frailty-focused education and communication training workshop for health care clinicians. Methods: Pilot testing was conducted via two workshops (#1:face-to-face [2019], #2:virtual [2020]). Participants: convenience sample of clinicians and students who volunteered. Workshop #1 included registered nurses working in an acute care and one medical student (N=14); #2: nursing students enrolled in an APRN program. Design: Pre/post observational study. Data analysis: descriptive statistics, paired t-tests and Wilcoxon rank test. Results: Statistically significant increases in frailty knowledge (#1: p = 0.02, d = 0.44; #2: p = 0.006, d = 0.55) and self-reported competency with older adult interactions (#1: p < 0.001, d = 0.62; #2: p = 0.001, d = 0.63) were reported for both workshops. Post course evaluations of the workshop were positive, with scores ranging from 3.5–3.9 (range: 0–4) for increased understanding of the concept of frailty, communication to support health-related behavior, and best practice empathic communication skills. Conclusion: The FCOM workshop was successful. Participants gained knowledge and skills for use in working with older adults across the aging continuum from non-frail to frail. Innovation: Our FCOM training workshop expands prior communication training on shared decision-making with frail individuals to a broader population of all older adults.

Keywords

• Aging
• Frailty
• Communication skills
• Clinicians
• Empathy