Announcements

Grant final reports now available from NTIS

The following grant final reports are now available from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Each listing identifies the project's principal investigator, his or her affiliation, grant number, and project period and provides a brief description of the project.

Records of documents archived at NTIS—including many AHRQ documents and final reports from all completed AHRQ-supported grants—can now be searched on the new NTIS Web site. For information about findings from the projects described here, please access the relevant final reports at the NTIS Web site. Also, all items in the database from 1997 to the present can be downloaded from the NTIS Web site. Go to http://www.ntis.gov for more information.

Editor's Note: In addition to these final reports, you can access information about these projects from several other sources. Most of these researchers have published interim findings in the professional literature, and many have been summarized in Research Activities during the course of the project.

To find information presented in back issues of Research Activities, select "Search Research Activities." To search for information, enter either the grant or contract number or the principal investigator's last name in the query line. A reference librarian can help you find related journal articles through the National Library of Medicine's PubMed®.

CUBS: Preventive Services for at Risk Infants. W. Robert Pace, M.D., LSU health Sciences Center, New Orleans. AHRQ grant HS13562, project period 9/30/02-9/29/04.

The purpose of this grant was to facilitate the development of the supportive infrastructure for the Louisiana State University Collaborative of University Based Services (CUBS) practice-based research network.

The mission of CUBS is improving the quality of care for infants and children of Louisiana using evidence-based medicine, working in a collaborative fashion on quality improvement projects and research.

This report describes the formal infrastructure that was developed as a framework to facilitate the aims of CUBS as well as the research protocol, research tools, and research variables.

Abstract and final report (NTIS accession no. PB2007-107230; 8 pp, $14.00 paper, $14.00 microfiche) are are available from NTIS.

From Best Practices to Quality Patient Care — Business Models for Health Information Technologies. E. Andrew Balas, M.D., Ph.D., St. Louis University School of Public Health. AHRQ grant HS12087, project period 07/16/02-11/14/03.

The goal of the conference was to examine the process of cost-effective health information technology transfer and advance the business case for innovation that improves outcomes and protects patient safety.

This conference was designed to advance the work started earlier in previous conferences ("Transferring research to practice in the information age," November 12-13, 1998 and the American Medical Informatics Association [AMIA] Spring 2000, Information Technologies for Quality Improvement in Health Care, May 23-25, 2000).

The outcomes and recommendations resulting from these sessions have been summarized in a white paper. Abstract and final report (NTIS accession no. PB2007-107231; 11 pp, $14.00 paper, $14.00 microfiche) are are available from NTIS.

Best Practices in FAS Prevention and Intervention. Sarah H. Bobo, Arc/Muskegon. AHRQ grant HS14646, project period 4/01/04-3/31/05.

The purpose of the Michigan Statewide Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Workgroup's conference was to disseminate research findings to individuals and organizations that have the capacity to use the information to improve the outcomes, quality, access to, cost, and utilization of healthcare services pertaining to FAS and its prevention.

Five plenary sessions and 16 workshop sessions were provided over two days with 238 participants. Topics included an overview of model programs, research projects and informational presentations pertaining to FAS prevention and intervention.

Participants completing the evaluation forms indicated a clear ability to accomplish the conference objectives. This knowledge increased the participants' ability to prevent alcohol exposed pregnancies and intervene with alcohol affected individuals.

Abstract and final report (NTIS accession no. PB2007-107231; 10 pp, $14.00 paper, $14.00 microfiche) are are available from NTIS.

Institutional Factors Affecting Hospital Organ Donation Rates. Pamela Crenshaw Spain, Virginia Commonwealth University. AHRQ grant HS14666, project period 9/01/04-6/30/05.

This study sought to identify why hospitals differ in their organ donor potential and organ donor recovery rates using data from the Health Care Cost and Utilization Project's Statewide Inpatient Discharge (SID) merged with data from the United Network for Organ Sharing and the American Hospital Association.

Although the donor conversion rate for the entire sample was unchanged over time, significant variation in the growth trajectory for the sample indicated that hospitals had differing growth rates. Analyses in a sub-sample of hospitals with a low recovery rate in 2000 showed a significantly positive growth trajectory. The proportion of deaths due to trauma and the number of transplant centers in the hospital's market were negative predictors of donor recovery rates. This study contributes to a limited body of research examining hospital-level organ donations and demonstrates the value of SID data as an alternative to chart reviews identify potential organ donors.

Abstract and final report (NTIS accession no. PB2007-107227; 19 pp, $26.50 paper, $14.00 microfiche) are are available from NTIS.

Creating a Primary Care Practice-based Research Network (PBRN). Louis M. Bell, M.D., The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. AHRQ grant HS13492, project period 9/30/02-9/29/04.

This project resulted in a pediatric PBRN using existing practices in The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Healthcare Network to provide a structure to foster high quality clinical research to improve patient safety, quality of care and outcomes in the ambulatory setting. Now named the CHOP Pediatric Research Consortium (PeRC), activities included:

1. An assessment of the clinical infrastructure and capability.
2. Improved communication about clinical research projects among providers
3. Creation of a CHOP PBRN Project Advisory Committee which included primary care providers to review proposed clinical research projects.

The surveys were completed, the PeRC Project review process was developed, and a CHOP PeRC Project Advisory Committee was formed.

Abstract and final report (NTIS accession no. PB2007-107229; 19 pp, $26.50 paper, $14.00 microfiche) are are available from NTIS.

Economic Benefits of a Breastfeeding Promotion Intervention: A Controlled Clinical Trial. Karen A. Bonuck, Ph.D., Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. AHRQ grant HS10900, project period 9/01/00-11/30/04.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an individualized, pre- and post-partum Lactation Consultant intervention resulted in increased breastfeeding and decreased "breast-feeding sensitive" illness up to 52 weeks. Participants included 382 Hispanic women recruited from 2 community health centers serving low-income, primarily and/or Black women.

The intervention group achieved the Healthy People 2010 goal of 50 percent breastfeeding until 5 or 6 months and had greater continued breastfeeding through Week 20 compared with the control group. There were no significant differences in exclusive breastfeeding at any time nor were there differences in the incidence of: gastrointestinal infection, respiratory infection, or otitis media.

Abstract and final report (NTIS accession no. PB2007-107228; 19 pp, $26.50 paper, $14.00 microfiche) are are available from NTIS.

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