Frailty in old age: conceptualization and care innovations

This PhD dissertation focuses on aspects around conceptualising the understanding of vulnerability. It also examines some health care innovations in outpatient and hospital settings. One of the conclusions about the understanding of vulnerability is that vulnerability as such may be too complex to sum up in a short, simple and quick-to-use questionnaire. It may be more practical to examine which specific outcomes elderly people are vulnerable to and have an increased risk of experiencing than to draw a general conclusion about whether elderly people are or are not vulnerable. The three described health care innovations show that the development of suitable health care innovations to further improve the daily functioning of vulnerable elderly people remains a challenge. It seems more practical to more efficiently organise the existing care, which is already at a high level.