DAISY Health Equity Grant, Improving Care and Promoting Healthy Aging of the Older Adult

Grant opportunities are funded by the Ann L. Hendrich Charitable Fund, in memory of Jim W. Hendrich.

As The DAISY Foundation delves into how it can serve the advancement of equitable delivery of healthcare, our attention is drawn to our aging population and the need to improve care and promote healthy aging of older adults. 

Each day, more than 10,000 citizens in the United States reach their 65th birthday, signaling the need for care that is both sensitive and specific to changes that may occur with the aging process. Ageism appears in many ways from the simple to the complex. Some examples include the assumption that a health concern of an older adult is simply related to “old age;” that instructions must be simplified, and you must speak louder; and that any mental change during an acute care hospitalization is simply “confusion of old age” or that “old people will just fall no matter what.” A cognitive change in a hospitalized older adult can have multiple causes. Specifically, mentation changes can be an early, serious warning sign of an entire spectrum of modifiable risks such as medication side effects, dehydration, and sepsis. If ageism bias is present and early sepsis goes undetected, it can result in a preventable death. Sensitivity to age as a health disparity goes beyond these examples. Nurses can make a difference in mitigating age bias and stigma.

-Program Goals
-General Guidelines and Requirements
-What is Funded
-Letter of Intent and Applications
-If Your Grant is Funded- Required Reports
-Publishing Your Work
-Lynne Doll Grant
-Grant Panel
 
Program Goals

To support nurses who aim to improve care of older adults, DAISY, in partnership with the Ann L Hendrich Charitable Fund, offers grants to fund research and EBP that:

  • may reduce ageism and the associated clinical and psychosocial risks
  • identify changes in practice behaviors or improvements to existing or new standards of care that deliver equitable care, regardless of age
  • develop and measure the impact of educational and experiential case studies that teach sensitivity toward commonly held negative age biases and/or build cultural awareness to reduce or eliminate them
General Guidelines and Requirements for Research Grants and EBPs

DAISY’s grants encourage registered nurses from all levels of experience to engage in research and EBP projects that will affect the health outcomes of patients and families. For this grant program, we will support investigators who are committed to compassionate, inclusive care and are passionate about making a difference for older adults.

Research or EBP projects make take place in any healthcare setting. They should be directed toward ensuring that care, regardless of age, is equitable, evidence-based, and appropriate. Emphasis should be on older adult clinical and psychosocial risks related to healthy aging, risk factor reduction, and illness. Some of the most common conditions for the older adult include delirium, sepsis, nutritional deficits, skin integrity, potentially inappropriate medication usage (Beer’s Criteria), pneumonia, depression and isolation, urinary tract infections, dehydration, ineffective planning for transitions in care, and deconditioning during an acute illness or a hospitalization.

Early nursing recognition of these conditions with evidence-based and person-centered interventions can improve the quality of care, reduce mortality and morbidity, assist in the diagnosis of the underlying cause(s), and preserve health status and independence. 

Following are a few examples of research studies or EBP projects that meet our guidelines.  These are meant for illustration purposes only – not as definitions of what interests us. (What interests us is what interests you!)

  • The introduction, testing, and/or adoption of existing evidence-based, standardized tool(s) into your institution’s standards for older adult care. These tools establish a baseline for various conditions such as delirium or depression. These tools will serve as a diagnostic comparison to monitor changes for early diagnosis and evidence-based interventions for one or more of the common conditions affecting older adults.
  • Qualitative research to capture and document “what matters most” to older adults and their personal goals of care when possible that may be incorporated into clinical rounds, the electronic health record, and care planning.
  • EBP projects measure the effect of nurses and the healthcare team who collaborate on the integration of fall risk assessment as part of the overall holistic assessment and problem list for each person/patient.

Grantees, whether working in a healthcare facility or academic setting must be connected to a clinical or community healthcare setting. 

As with all our research/EBP grants, it is imperative that nurses who provide direct care play a meaningful role in your study or project in its conceptualization, implementation, data collection, data analysis, and dissemination of results. The application requires a description of the role these nurses will have in your work to ensure that this program is enhancing the research or EBP implementation experience of nurses who have direct contact with patients and families.

Types of Research Studies or Evidence-Based Projects

Evidence-based Practice (EBP):

Evidence-based Practice (EBP) grants will be awarded to stimulate the use of patient-focused data and/or previously generated research findings to develop, implement and evaluate changes in nursing practice in the treatment of patients affected by social determinants of health. We encourage nurses who have research/EBP experience as well as those who do not to apply.

Funds for Evidence-Based Practice projects may be awarded for new projects, projects in progress, and projects required for an academic degree as long as all other project criteria are met.

Eligible projects may include research utilization or evidence-based practice projects, performance improvement initiatives that are based on evidence, or outcomes evaluation projects.

Interdisciplinary and collaborative projects are encouraged and may involve interdisciplinary teams, multiple nursing units, home health, sub-acute and transitional care, other institutions, or community agencies. The team must be nurse-led. An implementation plan is needed to promote adoption of the evidence-based intervention by the clinical team.

We will not fund tool development as part of EBP projects.

You will be asked which EBP process model your study will follow. Which one is your choice (e.g. Iowa Model, Johns Hopkins Model, or another used in your organization), but please assure us that a systematic and disciplined process to evaluate the outcomes of your initiative will be in place to structure your work. We are especially interested in your process and outcomes indicators/measures.

In all cases including DNP projects, your application must demonstrate how clinical nurses will play an integral role in project work.

The Research Grant

The Principal Investigator (PI) must be a nurse or formally affiliated with a clinical or community health setting, and they may be faculty in an academic setting.

Funds may be awarded for new projects, projects in progress, and projects required for an academic degree as long as all other project criteria are met.

We encourage you to identify a Mentor, especially if you are less experienced in applying for a research grant. If you desire a Mentor and are unable to find one, The DAISY Foundation will provide time-limited mentor support.

With both EBP and Research grants, we will fund only direct expenses. We will not pay for institution overhead, fees to institutional review boards, Applicants' time, etc.

Eligible Applicants

DAISY’s grants encourage registered nurses from all levels of experience to engage in research and EBP projects that will affect the health outcomes of patients and families. For this grant program, we will support investigators who are committed to compassionate, inclusive care and are passionate about making a difference for their target population. The application asks you to explain why this work is important to you. Grantees, whether working in a healthcare facility or academic setting must be connected to a clinical or community healthcare setting.

For all work, it is imperative that nurses who provide direct care play a meaningful role in your study or project in its conceptualization, implementation, data collection, data analysis, and dissemination of results. The application requires a description of the role these nurses will have in your work to ensure that this program is enhancing the research or EBP implementation experience of nurses who have direct contact with patients and families.

The Project Leader/Team Leader must be a nurse who is currently employed or formally affiliated with a clinical or community health setting, and they may be faculty in an academic setting.

A Project Mentor is strongly recommended for each grant application. We encourage Applicants to find a Mentor in your institution, nearby school of nursing, or community.

Mentors will provide the following benefits which will be especially helpful for less experienced Applicants:

  • Help potential DAISY Grant Applicants become familiar with resources and problem-solve grant issues or concerns
  • Advise and refer Applicants to appropriate internal and external resources
  • Establish availability by phone or email to Applicants
  • Review the grant application and provide feedback/guidance as needed

Your Mentor should be an established Advanced Practice Nurse who provides support in the development and submission of an evidence-based practice grant. Mentors will assist Applicants in the development of the grant application, serving as a coach and advisor to the Mentee throughout the project.

Before you submit your application, please be sure your project is ready to implement as soon as you receive IRB approval or exemption and grant funding. All tools need to be in place with permission for you to use them.

We want you to be successful, so please read the notes on the application carefully as they will guide you to writing a successful application.

Additional Requirements

We seek studies and projects that may be transferable to other organizations and practitioners once they are completed. Applicants should be ready to implement their projects immediately following funding from The DAISY Foundation. Our application requires you to provide evidence of permission to use any tools you propose, so there is no delay in commencing the work.

Only research and EBP projects approved by your institutional review board (IRB) or that have been exempted in writing by your IRB will be funded. A copy of your IRB approval on IRB letterhead with an appropriate signature will be required prior to our funding your grant.  If you do not have IRB approval yet, that is not a problem. You may apply for a grant while IRB approval is pending. Just know we will not actually fund without written IRB approval.

The timeline you submit for your study or project should plan for completion of your work within 1 year of its start.

Grant payment will only be issued to your institution or a specified fund at your institution, not to an individual investigator.

Research studies: Up to $7,500

EBP projects: Up to $2,500

 
What We Will Fund

What We May Fund

What We Will Not Fund

  • Small equipment (such as recording devices)

  • Laptop computers and tablets such as iPads

  • Software, excluding SPSS and other statistical packages

  • Institutional overhead

  • Supplies 

  • CITI training

  • Printed materials for study

  • IRB review costs

  • Buy-out of clinical/staff nurses' time so they may participate as members of the study team

  • Compensation for:

    • Research Assistant time (includes hiring students)
    • Mentor time
    • Investigator time
    • Fringe benefits
    • Staff nurses' time when they are subjects of the study
    • Faculty compensation (except in a limited role as a consultant on a unique aspect of the study
  • Data entry time

  • Statistician time

 
  • Incentives to participants (must be approved by IRB)

 
Letter of Intent
Application Forms
Required Reports

If your grant is approved, at the halfway point and at the conclusion of your study or evidence-based practice project, we require a report from our Grantees. To review the requirements for these reports, please click on the following:

Interim Report   or   Final Report
 

IF AN INVESTIGATOR LEAVES THE INSTITUTION

The DAISY Foundation must be notified by email (FaithThomas@DAISYfoundation.org) should any member of the research team leave the institution.

IF A PROJECT CAN NOT BE COMPLETED

If a project funded by The DAISY Foundation cannot be completed for any reason, the Foundation must be informed immediately and unspent funds must be returned to the Foundation. In summary, we will fund studies and projects that represent good science, will impact patients and their families in a direct way, and have potential outside one's own institution.

 
Publishing Your Work

If you receive funding from us, please recognize The DAISY Foundation upon publication/presentation of your research in the following way: 

  • Funding is supported by The DAISY Foundation's Health Equity Grant, Improving Care and Promoting Healthy Aging of the Older Adult Grant, in collaboration with the Ann L. Hendrich Charitable Fund, in memory of Jim W. Hendrich.
  • A DAISY Foundation logo will be provided for your use. 
  • We will post the findings of your study on our website and will discuss the specifics with you before our doing so.

In your letter of agreement provided with your grant application, you will commit to submitting your presentation to the Sigma Repository. Please provide your presentation, either as slides (PowerPoint) or your poster, and the corresponding abstract, for inclusion in the Sigma Repository (www.SigmaRepository.org) by completing this form: https://sigmanursing.formstack.com/forms/daisy_grant_report.

  • The Sigma Repository is a free resource of Sigma Theta Tau International, the Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma). It was created for nurses and nursing students to disseminate materials not made available through traditional publishing methods. Only nurses and nursing students may submit material. Sigma membership is not required. 
  • The repository allows authors to experience the benefits of dynamic dissemination and the dissemination of posters with abstracts does not interfere with the later publication of the full-length work in a peer-reviewed journal. Presenters can quantify the global impact of their work through the repository’s publicly available view and download statistics and Altmetric subscription which allows presenters to track online mentions of their work on a variety of platforms.
  • Copyright is retained by submitters. The permanent web link to each submission may be cited on a resume, personal/faculty web page, tenure dossier, or curriculum vitae. Submissions are permanently stored on secure servers.
     
Lynne Doll Grant

Lynne Doll Grants for the Dissemination of Findings - For Successful  Research/Evidence-Based Practice Grantees - Guidelines (up to $2,000)

The DAISY Foundation will help successful Grantees whose work we fund share the results of their findings with other nurses and institutions.

Once funded EBP projects and Research studies are completed, Grantees may apply for subsequent funding to present findings at one professional conference. This grant application must be submitted and approved before any travel takes place. Applications for presentations already made will not be funded.  Only one (1) Lynne Doll Grant will be available for each study, funding expenses for one (1) conference.

This subsequent grant will provide up to $2,000 for the following specific conference-related expenses:

  • The registration fee to present at a professional conference
  • Round-trip economy airfare
  • 2 nights' hotel stay
  • Transportation to/from the conference city airport (not to/from your home to your home airport)
  • $50 per diem food expense not to exceed $100
  • Poster production (if poster presentation)

Funds will only be provided to Grantees whose projects have been approved for presentation by a professional conference. Once your grant is approved, we will inform your grant office that we will reimburse you for expenses only when you have submitted actual receipts to us and a photo and proof of your presentation (a copy of the program where your presentation is listed).                                          

Click here for the application

Click here for reimbursement                                  

This program is named in memory of DAISY Board member, Lynne Doll, who championed our research program and dedicated her professional public relations expertise to ensuring that nurses knew of the availability of funding for their work. Lynne was a strong proponent of ensuring that great work be shared, so we lovingly name these grants in her honor.

 
Grant Panel

Applications are reviewed by a volunteer team of nurse scientists whose special focus is on research and evidence-based practice addressing aging adults.

Jennie Chin Hansen, MS, RN, F.A.A.N., immediate past CEO of the American Geriatrics Society
Ying-Ling Jao, RN, PhD, FGSA, Assistant Professor, Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, Pennsylvania State University
Maryjo Phillips, DNP, RN-BC, CMSRN, Ann May Center for Nursing and Allied Health