Investigator Initiated Research (IIR) Grants

Investigator Initiated Research (IIR) Grants

Funder: The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF)

Program Objective: Stimulate and fund studies that will clearly improve patient safety and lead to prevention of mortality and morbidity resulting from anesthesia mishaps.

Geographic Scope: United States and Canada

Award Amount:

Project Duration: Up to 2 years

Research Time Commitment: Variable, typically 10-30% effort (research time) is appropriate

Focus Areas

Research areas include, but are not limited to:
• Studies addressing one or more of the perioperative patient safety priorities of the APSF
• Studies that will yield results directly increasing patient safety, improving patient outcomes, and/or decreasing incidence or severity of complications, morbidity, or mortality
• Studies addressing peri-anesthetic safety problems for relatively healthy patients
• Studies broadly applicable to large numbers of patients with promise of improved patient safety methods with direct path to implementation into clinical care
• Innovative methods of education and training to improve patient safety
• Studies to elucidate consequences of information technology and clinical decision support for perioperative patient safety
• Standardization of perioperative protocols to improve patient safety
• New clinical methods for prevention, mitigation and/or early diagnosis of mishaps
• Studies of new and/or existing technologies for prevention, mitigation and/or early diagnosis of mishaps
• Studies to identify predictors of negative patient outcomes
• Development of innovative methods for studying low-frequency events, identifying and mitigating latent safety threats, and/or prevention of near miss events
• Studies of implementing innovative safety science ideas in perioperative environment
• Studies addressing health care disparities in patient safety

Eligibility Requirements

• Awards made to sponsoring institution (hospital, university, clinic, etc.), not to individuals or departments
• Any qualified member of a sponsoring institution in the United States or Canada may apply
• Only one person may be listed as principal investigator
• All co-investigators, collaborators, and consultants must be listed
• Applications NOT accepted from principal investigators currently funded by the APSF
• No limit to number of applications per individual or institution, but APSF will award funding to no more than one proposal per PI in a given funding cycle
• Submissions of previously unfunded applications allowed but must address reviewer's comments and explain how re-application differs
• Unrevised resubmissions of applications not invited to submit full proposals in a previous year will not be accepted

What APSF Will NOT Fund

• Proposals whose results would not have a clear and direct link to near-term improvements in anesthesia patient safety
• Proposals seeking to develop products or equipment for commercial purposes
• Basic science proposals involving cells, tissues, or animals
• Whole animal studies (may be considered only in rare circumstances where alternative testing of critical patient safety hypothesis in human studies is not feasible)
• Research proposals with other available sources for funding
• Proposals to create patient safety education curricula or that propose methods without rigorous evaluation of content validity and/or benefit
• Unrevised resubmissions of applications not invited to submit full proposals in a previous year

AI Use Policy

APSF strongly discourages the use of generative AI in development of any grant proposal. If utilized:
• Disclosure required at time of grant submission on the "Title Page" section of ProposalCentral
• Risk of false or inaccurate information that deviates from expected research rigor
• Threatens confidentiality of research ideas and intellectual property
• Strictly prohibited in the APSF grant peer review process

Contact Information

• Email for Waiver Requests: [email protected]
• Address: P.O. Box 6668, Rochester, MN 55903
• General Email: info@apsf.org
• Website: apsf.org

Additional Information

• Junior investigators with strong mentorship encouraged to apply
• Innovation and creativity strongly encouraged
• Cross-disciplinary research teams encouraged
• Mentorship opportunities available through chairs of APSF Grant Alumni Academy