Senior alert: a tool for better care collaboration

The increasing prevalence of negative events among older frail adults is a challenge for society which calls for pro-active and preventive actions. Senior Alert (SA) is a quality-registry focusing pro-actively on 5 risk areas common among older adults: malnutrition, pressure ulcers, falls, oral health and bladder dysfunction among people = 65 years. It is mandatory to assess risks in all risk areas. SA plays an unique roll among the more than 100 national quality registries in Sweden used for quality improvements, in aspect that it also stimulate staff to perform screening, action taking, and follow-up. However, the overall potential of the register to improve the care of older adults has so far not been recognized. Although the risks are registered to a high degree, the underlying causes are not identified to the same extent. If the need for intervention is not identified, the possibilities for an effective preventive care process and effective collaboration between different actors are missed. We want to study the factors that constitute support or obstacles to the preventive care process to contribute to an effective and robust preventive care process that promotes effective collaboration between different actors for best practice care of older frail adults. The project has an interdisciplinary approach and is based on a mixed method design meaning using both quantitative and qualitative methods