TY - JOUR
T1 - Decision support-tools for early detection of infection in older people (aged> 65 years)
T2 - a scoping review
AU - Masot, Olga
AU - Cox, Anna
AU - Mold, Freda
AU - Sund-Levander, Märtha
AU - Tingström, Pia
AU - Boersema, Geertien Christelle
AU - Botigué, Teresa
AU - Daltrey, Julie
AU - Hughes, Karen
AU - Mayhorn, Christopher B.
AU - Montgomery, Amy
AU - Mullan, Judy
AU - Carey, Nicola
N1 - © The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
PY - 2022/7/1
Y1 - 2022/7/1
N2 - Background: Infection is more frequent, and serious in people aged > 65 as they experience non-specific signs and symptoms delaying diagnosis and prompt treatment. Monitoring signs and symptoms using decision support tools (DST) is one approach that could help improve early detection ensuring timely treatment and effective care. Objective: To identify and analyse decision support tools available to support detection of infection in older people (> 65 years). Methods: A scoping review of the literature 2010–2021 following Arksey and O’Malley (2005) framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A search of MEDLINE, Cochrane, EMBASE, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and PsycINFO using terms to identify decision support tools for detection of infection in people > 65 years was conducted, supplemented with manual searches. Results: Seventeen papers, reporting varying stages of development of different DSTs were analysed. DSTs largely focussed on specific types of infection i.e. urine, respiratory, sepsis and were frequently hospital based (n = 9) for use by physicians. Four DSTs had been developed in nursing homes and one a care home, two of which explored detection of non- specific infection. Conclusions: DSTs provide an opportunity to ensure a consistent approach to early detection of infection supporting prompt action and treatment, thus avoiding emergency hospital admissions. A lack of consideration regarding their implementation in practice means that any attempt to create an optimal validated and tested DST for infection detection will be impeded. This absence may ultimately affect the ability of the workforce to provide more effective and timely care, particularly during the current covid-19 pandemic.
AB - Background: Infection is more frequent, and serious in people aged > 65 as they experience non-specific signs and symptoms delaying diagnosis and prompt treatment. Monitoring signs and symptoms using decision support tools (DST) is one approach that could help improve early detection ensuring timely treatment and effective care. Objective: To identify and analyse decision support tools available to support detection of infection in older people (> 65 years). Methods: A scoping review of the literature 2010–2021 following Arksey and O’Malley (2005) framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A search of MEDLINE, Cochrane, EMBASE, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and PsycINFO using terms to identify decision support tools for detection of infection in people > 65 years was conducted, supplemented with manual searches. Results: Seventeen papers, reporting varying stages of development of different DSTs were analysed. DSTs largely focussed on specific types of infection i.e. urine, respiratory, sepsis and were frequently hospital based (n = 9) for use by physicians. Four DSTs had been developed in nursing homes and one a care home, two of which explored detection of non- specific infection. Conclusions: DSTs provide an opportunity to ensure a consistent approach to early detection of infection supporting prompt action and treatment, thus avoiding emergency hospital admissions. A lack of consideration regarding their implementation in practice means that any attempt to create an optimal validated and tested DST for infection detection will be impeded. This absence may ultimately affect the ability of the workforce to provide more effective and timely care, particularly during the current covid-19 pandemic.
KW - Decision support tools
KW - Detection
KW - Infection
KW - Older adults
KW - Signs and symptoms
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85133270465
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85133270465#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1186/s12877-022-03218-w
DO - 10.1186/s12877-022-03218-w
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85133270465
SN - 1471-2318
VL - 22
JO - BMC Geriatrics
JF - BMC Geriatrics
IS - 1
M1 - 552
ER -