Current as Co-Investigator

iNET: An International Network to Enhance Older Adult Transitions between Emergency Departments & Communities

Start/End Dates: 2020 - 2023

Investigators: Jacobsen F (NPI), (PI) Doupe M, (Co-Is): Cummings GG, Blinkenberg

Funder: The Research Council of Norway International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research (INTPART) Program

Grant Amount: $4 500 000 NOK ($609,979 CAD)

Description: iNET will enhance older adult transitions between emergency departments (EDs) and communities by establishing a world-leading network of academics and healthcare stakeholders (e.g., decision-makers & providers) from Norway and Canada. The objectives of iNET are to:

(1) engage with two well-known Canadian institutions (the University of Manitoba, UM; the University of Alberta; UA), both of which are renowned for their international research programs and faculty with established pertinent expertise;

(2) develop institutional agreements to help formalize program activities and sustain our success;

(3) interact with healthcare stakeholders in ways that help ensure that our products have ‘real-world’ impact;

(4) improve graduate student training to more rigorously prepare future health services researchers, and through all activities combined;

(5) develop a world-leading innovative and integrated knowledge translation research platform, for continued growth and expansion to additional countries.

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The Influence of Context on Implementation and Improvement (ICII)

Start/End Dates: 2019 - 2023

Investigators: Estabrooks CA (NPI), (Co-Is): Anderson R, Beeber A, Berta W, Chamberlain S, Cummings GG, Easterbrook A, Hayduk L, Hoben M, Lanham H, Lo TKT, Norton P, Song Y, (KUs): Anderson C, Connell K, Cook H, Forbes H, Schalm C, Sheppard I, Silvius J, Stevens S, Trinidad G, (Collabs): Elliott-Lopez V, Visockas AM.

Funder: CIHR Project Grant 

Grant Amount: $2,096,101

Description: In this project, we will use the various types of data amassed through the Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) program (e.g., interviews, focus groups, observations, and surveys) to develop a deeper understanding of how context and facilitation influence improvement initiatives in long-term care settings. The objectives of this project are to:

1) generate new knowledge about how to improve the success of quality improvement initiatives

2) advance existing theories about how quality improvement initiatives work, which will help future initiatives to be more successful

3) generate results that can be called upon when generating future improvement initiatives, thus allowing those initiatives to be built upon strong evidence

4) advance the quality and utility of improvement initiatives within complex health care settings, thereby improving the care of residents and work life of care providers

Longitudinal Monitoring for Quality of Care at the End of Life in Nursing Homes

Start/End Dates: 2019 - 2022

Investigators: Gruneir A (PI), Estabrooks CA (Co-PI), Hoben M (Co-PI), Silvius J (PI-KU), Berta W, Bronskill S, Cummings GG, Doupe M, Lo T, Marshall S, Poss J, Anderson C, Forbes H, Good A, Kieloch B, McBain K, Murphy R, Sheppard I, Trinidad G, Visockas AM, Easterbrook A, Chamberlain S, Gish J, Kemp K, Mottorshead T.

Funder: CIHR Project Grant

Grant Amount: $512,551

Description: The goal of this study is to develop a new set of quality measures that can be used by different groups (including residents and their families, nursing home administrators and staff, and decision makers) to understand the quality of care at end of life provided in nursing homes and identify opportunities for improvement.

Seniors: Adding Life to Years (SALTY)

Start/End Dates: 2016 - 2020

Investigators: Keefe J (PI),Estabrooks CA (Co-PI), Andrew M, Armstrong H, Armstrong P, Aubrecht K, Berta W, Bourgeault I, Braedley S, Burger F, Cloutier-Fisher D, Cummings GG, Daly T, Gruneir A, Hoben M, Marshall E, McGregor M, Norton PG, Poss J, Stajduhar K, Cook H, English P, Grabusic C, Hillmer M, Schalm C, Silvius JU, Stevens S, Taylor D, Teare G, MacDonald L, Fifield H, Findlay E, Forbes F, Janz T, Kjorven M, lePair Y, Lynam C, Mann J, Nicol J, Norman K, Waugh J.

Funder: CIHR Team Grant - Late Life Issues

Grant Amount: CIHR-$1,397,931, Partner Funding-$637,500

Description: SALTY will address the health system's current failure to secure quality of life and quality of care for older adults living in LTC. Part of this problem can be attributed to a bias in LTC for treatment over care. SALTY aims to determine how LTC facilities can best provide care in a person's last days, months and years of life, in terms of both clinical needs and social needs such as support, meaningful engagement and relationships. SALTY seeks to optimize how LTC facilities promote and support what Atul Gawande describes as "a good life to the very end"25 for the older adults in their care.

SALTY's program of research is organized in 4 interrelated research Streams. Each Stream applies a different perspective to the late life trajectory in LTC:

1) Stream 1 - Monitor care practices: What are appropriate approaches to longitudinal monitoring of care quality and outcome measures during late life for older adults in residential LTC facilities?

2) Stream 2 - Map care relationships: What are promising relational approaches to care in LTC? How do highly promising approaches to late life in LTC enhance quality care at the level of care relationships?

3) Stream 3 - Evaluate innovative practice: Can we successfully implement, evaluate and scale an internationally acclaimed care innovation designed to improve end of life care in LTC facilities?

4) Stream 4 - Examine policy context: What policies support or offer barriers for promising approaches to quality of late life in LTC?