Research Activities

September 2000, No. 241

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Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

Teaching hospitals provide better care for older heart attack patients

Women's Health

Negative attitudes about mammography lead some low-income black women to skip their appointments to have the procedure
Adjustment for breast cancer survivors often involves turning their tragedy into positive meaning

Clinical Decisionmaking

Clinicians should give high priority to parents' wishes in decisions about neonatal ICU care for very low birthweight infants
Using a simple set of clinical criteria can reduce unnecessary cervical spine x-rays in patients with blunt trauma
Studies suggest better ways to manage elderly hip fracture patients with delirium and end-stage dementia

Outcomes/Effectiveness Research

Patient self-testing of blood coagulation times has the potential to improve outcomes for patients at risk of stroke

Health Care Delivery

Chronic disease patients who complain to their doctors about their medications are twice as likely to stop taking them
ICU patients are more likely to receive the care they prefer if they discuss it with their doctor
Researchers identify key features of effective collaborative health care teams
One-fourth of generalists and three-fourths of specialists have a subspecialty within their primary specialty

Quality of Care

Hospital grades on quality-of-care report cards may not truly reflect actual quality at a specific hospital

Health Care Costs/Health Insurance

Policies that provide postretirement health benefits to the near-elderly may encourage some workers to retire early
Sigmoidoscopy and stool blood tests are the most cost-effective screening tests for colon cancer
Washington State employees find CAHPS® health plan assessments to be easy to understand and useful
All health care providers will soon be affected by federally mandated standardization of health insurance billing

HIV/AIDS Research

Florida's Medicaid AIDS waiver program improves patients' health and reduces costs, especially for hospital care
Kaposi's sarcoma is more likely to develop in HIV-infected people who also have herpesvirus type 8 infection
Total costs in the United States for treating people with HIV disease were $7 to $8 billion in 1996
Researchers examine access to care, symptom prevalence, and health care services for patients with HIV infection

Agency News and Notes

AHRQ expands program to improve safe and effective use of medical products
AHRQ releases three new evidence reports
AHRQ names second child health scholar
HHS Secretary appoints new members to AHRQ's National Advisory Council

Announcements

AHRQ funds new projects
AHRQ to cosponsor ISTAHC's 2001 conference

Research Briefs

Current as of September 2000
AHRQ Publication No. 00-0054

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Internet Citation:

Research Activities newsletter. September 2000, No. 241. AHRQ Publication No. 00-0054. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/sep00/

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