Lauren Southerland, associate professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine, has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to research “Accelerating Geriatric Emergency Medicine Models of Care Dissemination Using Implementation Science” in Australia. From January-April 2025, Southerland will evaluate local and national strategies to make it easier for hospitals to implement high quality geriatric care in their Emergency Departments.
“Older adults who are injured or ill need more assistance, medical evaluation and treatment, and multidisciplinary care than younger patients. I will visit different hospitals across New South Wales and Queensland to investigate how they have integrated geriatric protocols and care,” Southerland explains.
The research will do workflow analyses and local factor assessments to collate best practices. These practices will be disseminated through the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine so other hospitals can improve their care.
“I am also working with Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to do an analysis of national factors that are barriers or facilitators to geriatric care. This will result in a comparative analysis on how U.S. and Australian hospitals report quality measures for older adult care and how that affects adoption of best practices,” Southerland explains.
Southerland is the first Fulbright U.S. Scholar from the Department of Emergency Medicine, and one of very few from the College of Medicine. She is hoping to use this opportunity to standardize a pathway allowing more Ohio State clinician-scientists to participate in this prestigious program.
Southerland received the official invitation for this project from the Australian Commission on Quality and Patient Safety, the Australian equivalent of Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services quality program for the entire health system.
“My family and I will be cultural ambassadors to Australia. This is going to be an adventure both with some amazing research to do and because I am taking my whole family with me,” Southerland shares. “My four children will do a semester of school and make friends and learn new skills as we explore all the amazing places and cultural traditions of Australians.”
Fulbright Program
For more information about the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, visit fulbright.osu.edu or contact Joanna Kukielka-Blaser.