IHI Blog: Providing Age-Friendly Care to Address Health Equity
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has published a blog, "Providing Age-Friendly Care to Address Health Equity."
The blog talks about Grady Memorial Hospital, a safety net hospital that serves all patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. In 2020, Grady joined Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) which means "committing to age-friendly care, defined as evidence-based care that includes the 4Ms — What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility...Through AFHS, said Vonetta Daniels, Director of Care Logistics at Grady and AFHS Project Manager, "We’re building on the success of the [acute care for elders] ACE unit" and other age-friendly care processes implemented within the health care system."
"Grady decided to add an additional M to the 4Ms framework — Malnutrition — because staff knew that 25-30 percent of their hospitalized older adults were malnourished. Many of their patients, said Daniels, are 'deciding between filling their prescriptions and buying groceries.' Since food insecurity and poor nutrition carry greater risks with age, they are piloting the 4Ms + Malnutrition work on the ACE unit, using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.” The blog talks about their approach and about next steps.
To read the blog, click here.
To learn more about the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, click here.
To learn more about JAHF's support of the AFHS initiative, click here.
