Table 4

Overview of baseline variables and care processes measured

Variable	Instrument	Description	Score	Type of assessment	Admission	In-hospital	Discharge	1/3/6 months follow-up
Baseline variables
Demographic data	n/a	Age, gender, living situation (home alone or together, assisted living, nursing home), use of healthcare resources	n/a	Interview	X
Medical status
Medical diagnoses	n/a	n/a	n/a	Record	X
Comorbidity	Cumulative Illness Rating Scale27	Assessment of 14 body systems scored based on severity	Score 0–56 Overall severity index Range 0–4=total score divided by number of body systems evaluated	Record	X
Medication	n/a	Polypharmacy ≥5 medications		Record	X		X
Functional status
Activities of daily living (ADL)	Katz Index28	Bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, continence, feeding	Score 6–18	Interview	X		X	X
Activities of daily living (ADL)	Barthel Index29	Bowels, bladder, grooming, toilet use, feeding, transfer, mobility, dressing, stairs, bathing	Score 0–100	Interview	X		X	X
Instrumental ADL	Lawton and Brody Scale30	Telephone use, shopping, food preparation, housekeeping, laundry, mode of transportation, medication use, finances		Interview	X
Community mobility	Life-Space Assessment31	Self-reported mobility in last 4 weeks based on mobility in specific life-space levels, frequency of movement and use of assistance	Score 0–120	Interview	X			X
Physical performance	Short Physical Performance Battery32	Gait speed, standing balance, chair stand test	Score 0–12	Test	X		X
Grip strength	Hydraulic hand dynamometer (Jamar JA Preston, Jackson, Mississippi, USA)33	At the dominant side with the elbow at 90° of flexion, and the forearm and wrist in a neutral position	Highest value out of 3 tests	Test	X		X
Fall history	Fall history in the past 6 and 12 months34	Fall=‘an unexpected event in which the patient comes to rest on the ground, floor or lower level’56	Yes/no	Interview	X		X	X
Physical frailty	Adjusted Fried criteria35	(1) Self-reported unintentional weight loss of ≥4.5 kg in the last year; grip strength in the lowest 20% adjusted for gender and BMI; (2) self-reported poor endurance and energy (question from GDS: ‘Do you feel full of energy?'); (3) reduced walking speed (≥6 s to cover 5 m); (4) low physical activity (<30 min/day of self-reported physical activity of moderate intensity)57 58	Frail=score ≥3	Test/interview	X		X
Mental status
Cognition	Mini-Cog43	3-item word memory and clock drawing	Score 0–5 Impairment=score <4	Interview	X		X
Depressive symptoms	10-item Geriatric Depression Scale59		Score 0–10 Risk for depression=score ≥4	Interview	X
Anxiety symptoms	Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale38	7-item subscale for anxiety	Score 0–21 Anxiety=score ≥8	Interview	X
Delirium	Three-dimensional Confusion Assessment Method39		Delirium = (acute onset OR fluctuating course) AND inattention AND (disorganised thinking OR altered level of consciousness)	Interview	X	X	X
Nutritional status	Mini Nutritional Assessment40	Six screening questions	Score 0–14 Malnutrition=score 0–7 Risk of malnutrition=score 8–11	Interview	X
Care processes
Rehabilitation	n/a	Number of patients receiving rehabilitation Number of days until start of rehabilitation Number of interventions and contacts by a physiotherapist		Record		X
Discharge planning	n/a	Number of patients receiving discharge planning Number of days until start of discharge planning Number of social interventions and contacts by a social worker		Record		X
Dietary advice	n/a	Number of patients receiving dietary advice, the number of days until start of dietary advice and the number of dietary interventions and contacts by a dietician		Record		X
Geriatric consultation	n/a	Number of patients receiving consultation by a member of the geriatric team Number of days until start of the geriatric consultation Number of interventions and contacts by the geriatric consultation team		Record		X
Physical restraints	n/a	Number of patients being restrained Duration of the use of restraints Type of restraints used		Record		X
Indwelling catheters	n/a	Number of patients with an indwelling catheter Duration of catheterisation Reason for catheterisation		Record		X
Medication reconciliation	n/a	Number of patients discharged with a change in medications, and type of change Change will be assessed for (1) number of drugs and drug intakes at admission and discharge, (2) potentially inappropriate medications at admission and discharge and (3) vitamin D at admission and discharge		Record		X
Detection of impairments and complications	n/a	Related to dementia/cognitive impairment, delirium (risk), depression (risk), anxiety (risk), fall risk, incontinence, malnutrition (risk) and frailty. This will be compared with standardised observations/assessments made by the research team to infer underdiagnoses		Record		X
Referral to outpatient care at hospital discharge	n/a	Number of patients referred to the falls clinic, the memory clinic, primary home care and primary nursing care		Record			X

*Underscored number indicates the best possible score for all instruments.
BMI, body mass index; n/a, not available.