Susan Walley, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine, is one of three winners who will share $40,000 in grants for quality improvement projects from the first SPARC (Sourcing Progress & Advancing Research Collaboration) competition, a UAB Medicine and Medscape innovation initiative. Dr. Wally and her collaborator, Kathy Harrington, PhD, MPH, won with their project: Improving Patient Access to Tobacco Use Treatment During Hospitalization. 

Drs. Walley and Harrington’s project aims to increase systematic screening for tobacco use among adult and adolescent patients at Children’s of Alabama and University Hospital in addition to increasing tobacco dependence treatment resources at both hospitals. Other project aims include adding electronic cigarette/vaping to tobacco screening, as e-cigarettes are now the most common tobacco product used by youth “We are pleased to receive this funding to increase tobacco-use screening, including electronic cigarettes, and to promote dependence treatment at University Hospital and Children's of Alabama,” Walley says. “Our goal is to improve not only the health of an individual tobacco user by treating their dependence, but to improve the health of their family and the entire community.”

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