7/24/25 APP Grand Rounds - Addressing Social Isolation Among Older Adults - Presented by Dan Moran, DNP, APRN

Hello APP Colleagues,

On Thursday, July 24, 2025, we welcomed Dan Moran, DNP, APRN to present his DNP Capstone Project: Addressing Social Isolation Among Older Adults, a quality improvement project focused on strengthening the role of community health workers (CHWs) in addressing social isolation among older adults—a growing concern and key social driver of health (SDOH). Using Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Learning as a framework, he developed and evaluated a structured training program that improved CHW knowledge, confidence, and application of a Social Isolation component within the Aging Wellness Pathway. The project revealed meaningful gains and highlighted the value of targeted CHW education in promoting early identification of social isolation and connecting older adults to vital community resources, even amid challenges like patient resistance and workflow integration.

Dan Moran is a Doctor of Nursing Practice–prepared Family Nurse Practitioner with over two decades of experience in clinical care, education, and health system implementation. He currently practices in General Internal Medicine and contributes to multiple grant-funded initiatives at Dartmouth Health.

Dan has led efforts to integrate behavioral health and social needs screening into primary care, with a focus on Medicare Annual Wellness Visits (AWVs) and reducing social isolation among older adults. Through the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP), he has developed and disseminated nurse-led AWV models and training programs now used nationwide. He also serves as a faculty leader in the PCORI-funded Supporting Practices in Respecting Elders (SPIRE) study, helping to standardize the AWV across 32 primary care practices.

His work is grounded in a commitment to health equity, interdisciplinary workforce development, and scalable, systems-based approaches to geriatric care.