Implementation studies

This program aims to undertake implementation studies across different disciplines to test new models of care for frail patients.

The program builds on previous research undertaken by our established partnerships between frailty and discipline experts in anesthesia, oncology, and psychiatry. Our focus is on patient-centred outcomes, translation of knowledge to practice via Clinical Practice Guidelines, and building research and implementation capacity of Early Career Academics as future discipline leaders. This program comprises studies in anesthesia, oncology and psychiatry. These studies are nested within our Frailty Research and Translation Framework (below).

Overview of Frailty-ADD CRE implementation studies

Anaesthesia

Lead: Prof Kwang Lim, Royal Melbourne Hospital

A pre-post study to test the implementation of a best-practice model of care to optimise the timely detection of frailty.

Oncology

Lead: Prof Chris Etherton-Beer, the University of Western Australia

A pre-post study to test the practical implementation of frailty screening in oncology clinics.

Psychiatry

Lead: Prof Dan Siskind, the University of Queensland

A single-arm pilot study to test the feasibility and acceptability of frailty assessment and multidisciplinary management in outpatients with severe mental illness and frailty.

A further 8 x $10,000 implementation studies will be funded by the Frailty-ADD CRE Seed Grant Scheme to stimulate frailty research in other disciplines. This scheme aims to capacity build early career academics and clinicians in conducting frailty-focused research. View more information about this scheme.

This research program is led by Professor Chris Etherton-Beer (oncology) from the University of Western Australia, Professor Kwang Lim (anesthesia) from the University of Melbourne, and Professor Dan Siskind (psychiatry) from the University of Queensland.