The Identification of Seniors At Risk (ISAR) ©
© The Identification of Seniors at Risk (ISAR) was granted copyright by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) on April 1, 2021. (Registration # 1180466)
Purpose
ISAR is a 6-item screening questionnaire that can be easily and quickly administered to older adults in the emergency department (ED). ISAR identifies those at increased risk of adverse functional outcomes after the ED visit, including significant functional decline, increased rates of hospitalization and use of community health services. Those identified to be at increased risk may benefit from further assessment and intervention. ISAR is not a stand-alone clinical tool but can be used to stratify patients into higher vs lower risk categories. Patients identified at high risk are then assessed by clinical staff to identify unmet needs, and perform clinical interventions as indicated, either in the ED or on the ward or following discharge from the ED.
Evidence
The validity of ISAR is supported by a large body of evidence including several meta-analyses. ISAR generally demonstrates high values of sensitivity and negative predictive value, useful properties of a screening tool. It has been adopted by numerous hospitals in the United States, Canada, and other countries. A list of publications is available in the section further below.
Materials to download
Manual for users
Versions of ISAR
ISAR Original and Revised Tool in English
Linguistic translations of ISAR
- ISAR Original and Revised Tool in French
- Norwegian Revised ISAR (upon isar.seisar [at] ssss.gouv.qc.ca (request))
- Traditional Chinese Original ISAR (upon isar.seisar [at] ssss.gouv.qc.ca (request))
- Traditional Chinese Modified (hybrid) ISAR (upon isar.seisar [at] ssss.gouv.qc.ca (request))