Depression is underrecognized in older adults, especially those with chronic conditions such as heart disease and arthritis. Left untreated, depression may progress and have dramatic effects on overall health. The Geriatric Depression Scale: Short Form is a 15-question screening tool for depression in older adults that takes five to seven minutes to complete and can be filled out by the patient or administered by a provider with minimal training in its use. The questions focus on mood; the score can help clinicians decide whether further assessment is needed. (This screening tool is included in a series, Try This: Best Practices in Nursing Care to Older Adults, from the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University's College of Nursing.) For a free online video demonstrating the use of this tool, go to http://links.lww.com/A101.

Fear of falling has many health consequences among older adults and may lead to curtailment of activities, immobility, functional dependence, falls, and serious injury. The lack of clarity as to how to best measure fear of falling among high-risk, community-dwelling older adults defined as those who are nursing home eligible, functionally dependent, and vulnerable is further complicated by the multiple definitions used throughout the science. Fear of falling is important to measure effectively if we are to develop and test interventions to promote safe aging in place and prevent injury and institutionalization. This integrative review, 1982 to the present, leads to the conclusion that the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) long form stands out as the most appropriate measurement tool to best assess fear of falling in this unique, understudied, and underserved population.

No abstract

Conducting clinical research with older adults in the current inpatient setting, where patients are more severely ill yet have shorter lengths of stay now than in the past, proves a challenging yet achievable goal. Effective procedures for negotiating the acute care environment are critical to successful studies.