Catalyst Grant: Reimagine Acute Care

The objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

• Foster collaborations across Eligible research fields and/or disciplines and the phases of the care continuum to strengthen (Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health's) (ICRH's) research community, and prepare funded teams for          interdisciplinary network funding opportunities, to ultimately improve healthcare outcomes.
• Enable researchers to generate preliminary data and/or AI-, computational or digital tools to catalyze future research and innovation, contributing to improving health care aligned with ICRH's mandate.
• Support early career researchers in initiating or participating in interdisciplinary research to build research capacity related to ICRH's mandate.

This Catalyst Funding Opportunity is part of CIHR-ICRH's Reimagine Acute Care initiative, focused on delivering better outcomes for all Canadians through research and evidence-informed decision-making in the research areas defined by ICRH's mandate: the heart; brain (stroke); lung; blood and blood vessels; sleep and critical care.

Conditions within ICRH's mandate represent a significant health challenge in Canada, causing approximately one-third of all deaths and accounting for four of the ten most expensive reasons for hospitalizations. Acute care in the hospital setting accounts for Canada's largest annual health expenditure. Many of these conditions, such as heart failure, asthma, and high blood pressure, are Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions where hospitalization may be avoided if managed with timely pre-acute care interventions. Late arrival to hospital care leads to complications, longer stays, and chronic disease development. Importantly, acute care access and outcomes are also largely influenced by social and economic factors. Therefore, certain groups like low income, rural and remote, racialized, immigrant and Indigenous populations experience additional barriers to optimal outcomes. Taken together, these observations highlight the need for a more integrated research approach to prevent or improve acute care outcomes.