"It's a stressful, trying time for the caretaker": an interpretive description qualitative study of postoperative transitions in care for older adults with frailty from the perspectives of informal caregivers.

"Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participateEthics approval was obtained from The Ottawa Health Sciences Network– Research Ethics Board (Protocol# 20200322-01 H) and Queen’s University Health Sciences & Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Research Ethics Board (Protocol# REH-773-20). Each participant provided informed consent prior to participating in the study. All methods were carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, the International Conference on Harmonisation– Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP) and the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. Consent for publicationNot Applicable. Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing interests. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests."

"Funding This study was funded by the University of Ottawa Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. E. Hladkowicz was supported by a Canadian Frailty Network Fellowship, an Ontario Graduate Scholarship and a Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology while completing this work. DIM received salary support from The Ottawa Hospital Anesthesia Alternate Funds Association and a Clinical Research Chair from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa."