Champions of the Age-Friendly Movement: Survey of Effectiveness and Usefulness of Resources

Background: Pharmacist champions ("Champions") were deployed to recruit Age-Friendly Pharmacists and engage nursing facilities, pharmacies, ambulatory care practices, assisted living communities, and other post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) facilities in the Age-Friendly movement. Objective: To describe survey findings from Champions on efforts to expand implementation of Age-Friendly practices. Methods: Champions (N = 28) provided educational presentations and disseminated newsletters to engage nursing facilities, pharmacies, and other health care sites, entering these activities monthly using a SurveyMonkey tool. Nine months after Age-Friendly recruitment began, 23 Champions (82%) completed a survey, identifying what was working well with the program, opportunities for resource creation, and future areas for growth. Results: According to respondents, the following recruitment practices were working well: dissemination of newsletters and presentations (74% ± 40.8%), recruiting Age-Friendly Pharmacists (50% ± 34.9%), and recruiting new practitioners (50% ± 31.6%). Respondents reported that engagement with pharmacies (25% ± 25.1%) and hospitals or other health systems (16% ± 27.1%) were working adequately.The following recruitment practices were labeled as working poorly: engagement with ambulatory care clinics (3% ± 24%), assisted living communities (3% ± 24%), other PALTC (2% ± 16%), nursing facilities (3% ± 22.5%), and Institute for Healthcare Improvement recognition of nursing facilities (3% ± 17.3%). Conclusion: Champions provided meaningful feedback to help foster program modifications and streamline educational focus as the Age-Friendly movement expands to other areas of pharmacy practice. Pharmacist-led Age-Friendly education was shown to be useful for a variety of practice sites.