Lauren Pollack receives IMPACT Collaboratory Career Development Award
Dr. Lauren Pollack, acting assistant professor (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) has received the James L Radolph Career Development Award from the National Institute on Aging Imbedded Pragmatic AD/ADRD Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Collaboratory.
This award prepares emerging investigators to lead embedded pragmatic clinical trials that improve care for people living with dementia and their care partners. Through training, mentorship, and collaboration with experts in the field and healthcare systems, the program builds expertise in pragmatic trial methods and equips investigators to address the unique clinical, ethical, and implementation challenges of dementia care while conducting impactful, real-world research.
Her project, “Improving Communication for People Living with Dementia During Emergency Response,” focuses on improving communication and promoting goal-concordant care for critically ill older adults with dementia as part of 911 emergency response and transport to the hospital.
“This award will provide me with training in emergency medical services systems of care, human-centered design, and pragmatic clinical trial design and implementation, supporting my goal of developing and testing strategies that align pre-hospital care with the values and preferences of people living with dementia.”
People living with dementia (PLWD) are at risk of receiving medical treatments that may not align with their goals and preferences. Prior studies suggest that advance care planning documents alone are insufficient to ensure goal-concordant care during healthcare emergencies.
Research on real-time serious illness communication during pre-hospital emergency response remains sparse, with no interventions currently designed to support emergency medical services (EMS) providers, patients, or their care partners in navigating treatment decisions during these often high-stress encounters.
This Career Development Award will provide Pollack with the necessary experience and training in EMS systems of care, human-centered intervention design, and the design and implementation of pragmatic clinical trials to prepare her to develop and test communication-based interventions to improve care in pre-hospital settings for PLWD and their care partners.
Pollack's research focuses on the intersections of critical care, geriatrics, palliative care, and emergency medicine, with an emphasis on communication for older adults with dementia and their care partners during episodes of critical illness.
Her research has demonstrated that emergency medical services (EMS) providers play a key role in early critical care delivery for older adults living with dementia, engaging in high stakes communication with patients’ care partners and making complex clinical decisions with implications that extend beyond transport.
Building on this work, she aims to develop interventions to support high-quality communication and goal-concordant care during 911 EMS response for people living with dementia and their care partners.