Risk for Short-term Adverse Events in Older Users in the Emergency Department: An Observational Cohort Study on Evaluation of PRISMA-7

In Quebec, Canada, the "Program of Research on Integration of services for the Maintenance of Autonomy" (PRISMA-7) is the Ministry of Health and Social Services' reference tool for the frailty assessment of older Emergency department users. This tool has been initially developed and validated to assess disabilities in older community dwellers with the aim to quickly identify older individuals at risk for disabilities and who should undergo a comprehensive assessment. PRISMA-7 has a high sensitivity for identifying frailty in older community dwellers but its performance criteria for this goal has never been examined in older Emergency Department users. Recently, a systematic review underscored that PRISMA-7 has all characteristics for being a usable clinical tool in Emergency department because it is a brief (i.e., <5 min), simple and multidimensionality assessment. PRISMA-7 is composed of 7 questions assessing health and functionality of older adults and stratifies risk for disability in two levels: low versus high. PRISMA-7 is a prognostic tool for disabilities.