Recently, while spending some time with my sister and her kids, I had the pleasure of overhearing a conversation between my eight-year-old son, Westley, and his six-year-old cousin, Beckett.
It went like this:
Westley: [Exasperated] Beckett, you knoooow I can’t read minds.
Beckett: Times up! [Dramatic pause] I was thinking about hot dog stands.
Like Westley, none of us are mind readers. We need new information clearly spelled out, and if possible, illustrated with examples. Hence, the purpose of this blog: To both celebrate the first round of winners of the Hartford Change AGEnts Action Awards, and to clarify, through their example, how they achieved success—so that you can do likewise.
The Hartford Change AGEnts Initiative was established in September 2013 and is housed at The Gerontological Society of America. Its purpose is to capitalize on the energy and know-how of the thousands of gero-experts affiliated in any way with a Hartford-funded effort and interested in improving health care delivery to our aging society.
The Hartford Change AGEnts Action Awards are designed as catalyst funds. They offer up to $10,000 to inter-professional teams, led by Hartford alumni, for one-year projects aiming to achieve meaningful systematic change in practice through redesign of care or policy change. We know that $10,000 is not a lot of money to do a project, but we also know that the work is really driven by people’s passion and commitment. The grant award just affords an opportunity to get people talking and overcome a little inertia.
We view practice change as a collaborative and team-based process that uses strong evidence to achieve results. Each application had to identify one of six practice domains, developed by the Change AGEnts leadership. Thanks to cross-project support from the National Center on Gerontological Social Work Excellence, nine projects were funded in total, representing a range of issues, teams, and methods of changing practice.
The first cohort of awardees
Here are the nine selected Change AGEnts Action Awardees with the project title, leaders, and practice domain:
Community Engagement to Better Manage Ischemic Vascular Disease
Suzanne Landis, MD, MPH, Mountain Area Health Education Center and University of North Carolina
Sarah Thach, MPH, Mountain Area Health Education Center
Domain of Practice Change: Transforming practice, care, and services
Designing a New System-wide Geriatric Medicine Program for Care New England
Nancy Roberts, MSN, RN, Kent County Visiting Nurse Association d/b/a VNA of Care New England
Ana Tuya Fulton, MD, FACP, Butler Hospital
Domain of Practice Change: Redesigning delivery systems
Development of a Patient-Centered Care Planning Tool for Multi-morbid Patients
Katherine Thompson, MD, The University of Chicago
Lisa Mailliard, MS, APN, The University of Chicago
Megan Huisingh-Scheetz, MD, MPH, The University of Chicago
Mariko Wong, MD, The University of Chicago
Domain of Practice Change: Strengthening quality measures and tools
Health Home Connect (HHC)
Amy Turk, LCSW, Downtown Women’s Center
Domain of Practice Change: Advancing public policy
Honoring the Care Wishes of Nursing Home Residents
Mercedes Bern-Klug, PhD, MSW, MA, University of Iowa
Nicole Peterson, DNP, ARNP, University of Iowa
Jane Dohrmann, MSW, Honoring Your Wishes, Iowa City Hospice
Domain of Practice Change: Connecting health professions education and practice
Implementing Routine Cognitive Assessment for Older Elective Surgery Patients in a Busy Preoperative Testing Center
Zara Cooper, MD, MSC, FACS, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Deborah J. Culley, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Houman Javedan, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Angela Bader, MD, MPH, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Domain of Practice Change: Strengthening quality measures and tools
MiCAPABLE-Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders in the Michigan Medicaid Waiver Program
Sandra L. Spoelstra, PhD, RN, Michigan State University
Sarah Szanton, PhD, ANP, Johns Hopkins University
Domain of Practice Change: Transforming practice, care, and services
New Strategies for Community Fall Prevention - Linking Emergency Care Providers with Home Health, Patients and their Providers
Kate T. Queen, MD, Mountain Area Health Education Center
Mark Johnson, RN, CCEMT-P, BSN, Mission Health
Domain of Practice Change: Redesigning delivery systems
Testing and Refinement of Inter-professional Geriatric Rounds (TRIGR) Practice Change
Susan M. Lee, PhD, RN, NP-C, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Heidi Doucette, MS, RN, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Domain of Practice Change: Developing model programs
Connect!
Look for information on these projects on the Change AGEnts website. Reach out to the project leaders via the Change AGEnts Community and see how you might participate in their work, share your experience, or replicate their effort in your own community or institution. And if you are interested in seeking support for your own catalytic award, more info on all of the Spring 2014 Change AGEnt Action Awards can be found here.
Here are some of the key ingredients we found across successful applications:
- Proposals reflected the involvement of the proposed “adopter” organizations and other stakeholders (e.g. older adults and their families, a professional in the clinic on the applicant team, etc.) in the project.
- Proposals featured projects utilizing a variety of health care disciplines, in concert with the older adult and family, to make a practice or policy change.
- Proposals built on existing work and previous investments in order to focus more on implementation (and less on development) of a program, policy, or tool to ensure that change can occur by the end of one year.
- Proposals leveraged existing opportunities within their organization or local/state/national politics or set the stage for a follow-up application, in order to secure more funding and partners.
Mercedes Bern-Klug, PhD, MA, MSW, Hartford Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor at the University of Iowa’s School of Social WorkFor example, AGEnt Action Awardee Mercedes Bern-Klug, PhD, MA, MSW, Hartford Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor at the University of Iowa’s School of Social Work stated, "The Hartford Change AGEnts Action award got us talking as a team. Once we submitted the proposal, we realized how much we really did want to do the project and looked for other grant opportunities to expand on the idea. We identified a foundation in our state and submitted that application in July. That funding decision will be made this fall."
Thanks to all who submitted applications and congrats to this round of AGEnts Action Awardees.
Second round is open now
Now that you have a clearer sense of what practice change AGEnt Action Awards look like, please know the second round of funding has been announced.
The request for proposals can be found here. The three-page application is provided in the open forum library of the Change AGEnts on-line platform. It should serve as the cover to your proposal narrative. Please indicate on the cover sheet the one domain of practice change that best represents your application.
Applications are due by 5 pm ET on Wednesday, October 15, with a start date of January 1, 2015. We expect to make five to eight AGEnt Action Awards.
Apply now. We foresee great things happening to improve the care of older Americans as a result of these investments.