AAG would like to congratulate the following individuals on their successful applications for the 2022 Strategic Innovation Program:

Dr Claire Baldwin
Flinders University
Dr Claire Baldwin is a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy and researcher in the Caring Futures Institute at Flinders University, and, a clinician at Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, South Australia. The research that she leads and collaborates on is seeking to ‘help the most at-risk patients in hospital get moving’. Current research to address the problems that stem from physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour during hospitalisation, is focused at the systems level on the development of a comprehensive and accessible evidence-based guideline, and, at the individual level on personalised interventions from hospital to home.
Project: Developing a guideline to support older adults to sit less and move more during acute hospitalisation
Award: $29,978
Project Summary: This project will deliver a comprehensive practice guideline with recommendations on supporting older adults to sit less and move more when admitted to hospital for an acute illness.
A structured and best-practice approach with consumer and carer engagement will be used to identify high quality research and create the practice guideline. Older adults will be involved in the decision making in all project stages and alongside multi-disciplinary clinicians and health-sector partners, from guideline development to implementation.
Adults, and especially older adults, who spend time inactive, sitting, or lying in bed, when in hospital are at high risk of functional decline, acquiring new disabilities or limitations, being institutionalised, sustaining falls and other costly hospital-associated complications. With an ageing population, the impact of inactivity on individuals and health systems will continue to escalate. Guidelines that have been rigorously developed with authentic consumer and stakeholder contributions have great potential to influence clinical care and have wide-reaching impact on outcomes across health systems and geographical locations.
There are currently no guidelines that address the complex problem of inactivity in hospitals and cover people admitted with a breadth of conditions. Our guideline will incorporate understanding of the unique care needs and preferences of older adults and will be relevant to the majority of admitted patients in Australian hospitals.