Mississauga, ON – March 6, 2023 – We are proud to announce that two Institute for Better Heath (IBH) researchers have been awarded $1,132,200 in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fall 2022 Project Grant competition.
The Project Grant program supports ideas with the greatest potential to advance health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health research, health care, health systems, and/or health outcomes. CIHR is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Congratulations to the following two IBH-led projects on this prestigious award:
Project Title: “Deintensifying diabetes management for older adults living in long term care: A multi-method study”
Principle Investigator: Dr. Lisa McCarthy, Clinician Scientist, IBH
Project Overview: People with diabetes in long-term care (LTC) homes are at higher risk of harm from their diabetes treatments compared to younger adults. While strict management of diabetes in younger adults is recommended, it should be avoided for those living in LTC, as it can do more harm than good. In Ontario, more than half of LTC residents with diabetes are treated too strictly, putting them at risk for harms like low blood sugar and its consequences. Given this, there is a need to deintensify the care of LTC residents with diabetes by stopping or reducing diabetes medications and decreasing how often blood sugar is monitored, etc.
Expected Outcome: Our goal is to directly improve the wellbeing of LTC residents with diabetes by implementing an intervention that reduces the intensity of diabetes management.
Amount Awarded: $677,024
“We are grateful to CIHR to supporting this project aimed at improving the quality of life and experience of people with diabetes living in long-term care homes,” Dr. McCarthy says. “By reducing the harms associated with unnecessary diabetes medications and monitoring, we hope to improve the health and safety of LTC residents with diabetes.”
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Project Title: “Setting the Balance of Care for Older Adults at Risk of Hospitalization with a Discharge Delay”
Principle Investigator: Dr. Kerry Kuluski, Dr. Mathias Gysler Research Chair in Patient and Family Centred Care and Scientist, IBH
Project Overview: Each year in Canada there are over three million acute care hospital stays. Of these hospital stays, about 1/5 people end up experiencing a delay in their hospital discharge because the next care setting they need (such as homecare or long-term care) is not available. Delayed discharges disproportionately impact older adults and they are at risk of getting sicker and more frail as they wait (due to reduced therapy while waiting). A lot of research has focused on how to provide better care when older adults are in hospital, but there has been less focus on understanding, for whom, these hospitalizations could be avoided all together.
Expected Outcome: Our goal is to understand, for whom, hospitalization could be avoided if given access to community supports.
Amount awarded: $455,176
“The funding provided by CIHR will allow our team to better understand how older adults can be supported in the community and at home where they prefer to be and if they are admitted to hospital, how to safely transition them back home or to the community more quickly,” Dr. Kuluski says.
Left to Right: Dr. Kerry Kuluski and Dr. Lisa McCarthy
About the Institute for Better Health
As THP’s research and innovation engine, the Institute for Better Health (IBH) is a core enabler of THP’s mission of a new kind of health care for a healthier community through the application of scientific expertise, innovative thinking and partnerships. Focused on generating cutting-edge science and innovation in health service delivery and population health, IBH leads practical research and innovation that shapes how we engage, design, deliver, and sustain health care to solve problems stretching from the bedside to the system.