Development and Evaluation of a Software Designed by a Nursing and Technology Team to Assess the Health Status of Adults over 65 Years of Age

Abstract

Objective. This work sought to develop the Actuasalud platform as a useful tool for nursing that permits assessing health, in term of frailty, in population over 65 years of age. Methods. For the design and development of Actuasalud, two working groups were formed: one from nursing with different profiles, to identify the scientific content and a computer science group responsible for the software programming and development. Both teams adapted the scientific content to the technology so that the tool would allow for population screening with detection of health problems and frailty states. Results. The software was developed in three large blocks that include all the dimensions of frailty: a) sociodemographic variables, b) comorbidities, and c) assessment tools of autonomy-related needs that evaluate the dimensions of frailty. At the end of the evaluation, a detailed report is displayed through bar diagram with the diagnosis of each of the dimensions assessed. The assessment in the participating elderly showed that 44.7% (n = 38) of the population was considered not frail, and 55.3%; (n = 47) as frail. Regarding associated pathologies, high blood pressure (67.1%; n = 57), osteoarthritis and/or arthritis (55.3%; n = 47), diabetes (48.2%; n = 41) and falls during the last year (35.3%; n = 30) were highlighted. Conclusion. Actuasalud is an application that allows nursing professionals to evaluate frailty and issue a quick diagnosis with ordered sequence, which helps to provide individualized care to elderly individuals according to the problems detected during the evaluation.