---
name: gerontology-assessment
description: Use when asked to administer, score, or explain a Gerontology Assessment — an elderly-patient evaluation using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) — grounded in FormExamples/form-examples.
---

# Gerontology Assessment

Elderly patient assessment using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), with
functional, cognitive, mobility, nutrition, and polypharmacy
evaluation.

## Scoring

**Instrument:** CFS. Range 1–9.

- **1** — very fit.
- **4** — vulnerable.
- **7** — severely frail.
- **9** — terminally ill.

## What it covers

Demographics; functional assessment; cognitive screen; mobility and
falls; nutrition; polypharmacy review; comorbidities; psychosocial
factors; and continence and skin.

## Common pitfalls

- **Scoring CFS from a single snapshot without considering baseline** —
  frailty should reflect a person's *usual* state (typically over the
  preceding 2 weeks), not their status during an acute illness, which
  can transiently look worse than their true baseline.
- **Treating polypharmacy review as a simple count** — the number of
  medications matters less than whether each is still indicated,
  appropriately dosed, and non-interacting; a structured review beats a
  raw count.
- **Applying CFS to inappropriate populations** — the scale is validated
  for older adults and isn't intended for younger adults with
  disabilities or for assessing frailty in populations outside its
  validation base.

## Learn more

- [FormExamples: gerontology-assessment](https://github.com/FormExamples/form-examples/tree/main/forms/gerontology-assessment) for the full implementation, clinical references, and worked examples.
- [[fall-risk-assessment]], [[mobility-assessment]], [[cognitive-assessment]] for related assessments commonly performed alongside this one.