Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Reports
2023
Palliative Care Fast Facts
As the American population ages, health care systems are faced with providing high-quality care for individuals with serious illness. The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) developed the 4Ms (What Matters, Mentation, Medication, Mobility) framework to assist with age-friendly care. Palliative care is a medical specialty that focuses on symptom relief and support of both the patient with a serious illness and the family to align patients' values (what matters) with their health care goals. Palliative Care Fast Facts is a virtual resource providing concise, peer-reviewed, evidence-based summaries of key palliative care topics via a searchable website (www.mypcnow.org/fast-facts.).
The aim of our study was to identify if there were Fast Facts that fit within the 4M framework and find a way to make this more accessible to providers. Of the 462 Fast Facts currently published, 32% could be tied to at least one of the 4Ms. The majority (53%) of these were within the What Matters category, followed by Medications (30%), Mentation (12%) and Mobility (5%). An index of the identified Fast Facts was created and in the future the focus will be to make website changes to allow for finding of these fast facts quickly.
The aim of our study was to identify if there were Fast Facts that fit within the 4M framework and find a way to make this more accessible to providers. Of the 462 Fast Facts currently published, 32% could be tied to at least one of the 4Ms. The majority (53%) of these were within the What Matters category, followed by Medications (30%), Mentation (12%) and Mobility (5%). An index of the identified Fast Facts was created and in the future the focus will be to make website changes to allow for finding of these fast facts quickly.
Geriatric Fast Facts
Geriatric Fast Facts (www.geriatricfastfacts.com) are concise, practical, evidence-based summaries of key geriatric topics which are designed to be a resource for all faculty and trainees in the health professions. These clinically actionable reports are easily accessible on all mobile devices and are searchable by free text, organ systems, ACGME competencies, and underlying science associated with specific geriatric conditions. In 2022, the 4Ms terms (i.e., what matters, medication, mentation, mobility) were used to categorize the 100 Geriatric Fast Facts that are currently available. Most (62%) of the 100 Geriatric Fast Facts that are currently available were found to be strongly linked to at least a one of the 4Ms, suggesting how central these concepts are to clinical work and geriatric education. Updates to the website will continue in 2023 including the 4Ms as searchable terms and a connection to the Palliative Care Fast Facts site.
