Prof. Tina Sadarangani receives additional NIH grant to support research on adult day centers

Tina Sadarangani, PhD, RN, ANP-C, GNP-BC, assistant professor at NYU Meyers, has been awarded a third grant from the National Institute on Aging to study leveraging mobile technology to improve communication between adult day service centers (ADCs) and primary care providers caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The new award builds on two grants she received in 2020. 

ADCs provide health and social services to a growing number of older adults living in the community—including many diverse, low-income adults with dementia—and are staffed by interdisciplinary teams of nurses, social workers, and other health professionals. People with dementia living at home are susceptible to emergency department visits and hospitalizations, many of which may be avoidable.

“Adult day center staff are well-positioned to detect changes in older adults’ health status through daily assessment and observations,” said Sadarangani. “When staff can quickly notify an older adult’s primary care provider, it can prevent a minor health issue from escalating into a medical emergency.”

Sadarangani’s previous research found that this communication is rarely seamless: ADC staff rely on slow methods like faxes or voicemails to communicate changes in older adults’ health or behavior, resulting in delayed or no responses from primary care providers. Most ADCs lack the resources to implement electronic health records, and when they do they are rarely compatible with primary care providers’ systems.

“It’s important that we address communication barriers between adult day centers and primary care providers to better integrate care. My work aims to harness the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets to help health professionals connect with each other,” added Sadarangani.

Sadarangani’s research will lay the groundwork for and develop a low-cost mobile health (mHealth) app to improve communication between ADC staff, caregivers, and primary care providers around the needs of people with dementia. Her previous two awards – a two-year R21 grant (R21AG069801) from the National Institute on Aging totaling nearly $800,000 and a two-year, $200,000 Career Development Award from the National Institute on Aging IMPACT Collaboratory – focus on supporting qualitative data collection and the creation of visual layouts for the app. 

The new award (K23AG071948-01), which will provide more than $900,000 over five years, will fund the creation of the app prototype. It will also support preliminary testing of the app, including the feasibility and acceptability of the app’s use among ADC staff, caregivers, and primary care providers, and whether it reduces hospitalizations and emergency department visits for people with dementia over a six-month period.

“This study works toward national goals of reducing fragmentation in health care delivery, optimizing care quality and efficiency, and expanding support for people living with dementia and their families, especially those in diverse communities,” said Sadarangani.