The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent state of public emergency have significantly affected older adults in Canada and worldwide. It is imperative that the gerontological response be efficient and effective. In this statement, the board members of the Canadian Association on Gerontology/L’Association canadienne de gérontologie (CAG/ACG) and the Canadian Journal on Aging/La revue canadienne du vieillissement (CJA/RCV) acknowledge the contributions of CAG/ACG members and CJA/RCV readers. We also profile the complex ways that COVID-19 is affecting older adults, from individual to population levels, and advocate for the adoption of multidisciplinary collaborative teams to bring together different perspectives, areas of expertise, and methods of evaluation in the COVID-19 response.

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Background Older adults are the biggest users of emergency departments and hospitals. However, healthcare professionals are often ill equipped to conduct comprehensive geriatric assessments causing missed opportunities for preventing adverse outcomes. Purpose To evaluate the inter-rater reliability of the interRAI Acute Care (AC) instrument for hospitalized older adults in two acute care hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Methods This descriptive study focused on evaluating the interRAI AC instrument, which was designed to facilitate a comprehensive nursing assessment for hospitalized seniors. Sample characteristics were described, and Cohen’s Kappa was calculated to derive the inter-rater reliability. Assessment times to complete the instrument were collected as well. Results The Cohen’s Kappa score for the instrument was 0.96. Many older adults who were interviewed had several challenges, including multimorbidity, polypharmacy, and lack of home support. The average time required for nurses to complete the interRAI AC instrument was 22 min. Conclusions The interRAI AC instrument is reliable for use by trained nurses to conduct a comprehensive assessment. This instrument offers a standardized and efficient approach to assess for care and intervention priorities and could prevent adverse outcomes in hospitalized older adults.