Characterization of patients admitted to specialized geriatric acute care hospital units with the German version of the Standardized Evaluation and Intervention for Seniors at Risk (SEISAR) screening-instrument: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: The Standardized Evaluation and Intervention for Seniors at Risk (SEISAR) screening tool records major geriatric problems, originally applied in the emergency department. Particularly, the distinction of compensated and uncompensated problems is an interesting and new approach. Therefore, we translated the SEISAR in German language and used it to characterize patients in specialized geriatric hospital wards in Germany and to gather initial experience regarding its usability and practicability. METHODS: The tool was translated by three independent specialists in geriatric medicine and backtranslated for quality-assurance by a non-medical English native speaker. In a second step, 8 acute care geriatric hospital departments used the translated version to characterize all consecutive patients admitted over a period of one month between December 2019 and May 2020 at time of admission. RESULTS: Most of the 756 patients (78%) lived in an own apartment or house prior to hospital admission. Participants had on average 4 compensated and 6 uncompensated problems, a Barthel-Index of 40 pts. on admission with a median increase of 15 points during hospital stay, and a median length of stay of 16 days in the geriatric hospital department. CONCLUSION: SEISAR is an interesting standardized brief comprehensive geriatric assessment tool for the identification of compensated and uncompensated health problems in older persons. The data of this study highlights the number, variability, and complexity of geriatric problems in patients treated in specialized acute care geriatric hospital wards in Germany. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical trial register (DRKS-ID: DRKS00031354 on 27.02.2023). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-023-04338-7.