Articles of Interest

December 15, 2006


This weekly compilation of articles appearing in recently released journals and newsletters includes:


AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles

Academic Emergency Medicine
Asplin BR, Flottemesch TJ, Gordon BD. Developing models for patient flow and daily surge capacity research. Acad Emerg Med 2006 Nov; 13(11):1109-13. [Supported by grant K08 HS13007.]

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Sullivan AF, Richman IB, Ahn CJ, et al. A profile of U.S. emergency departments in 2001. Ann Emerg Med 2006 Dec; 48(6):694-701. [Supported by grant R01 HS13099.]

Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology
Maclure M, Nguyen A, Carney G, et al. Measuring prescribing improvements in pragmatic trials of educational tools for general practitioners. Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol 2006 Mar; 98(3):243-52. [Supported by grant 2 R01 HS10881.]

Clinical Rehabilitation
Caban ME, Freeman JL, Zhang DD, et al. The relationship between depressive symptoms and shoulder mobility among older women: assessment at one year after breast cancer diagnosis. Clin Rehabil 2006 Jun; 20(6):513-22. [Supported by grant R24 HS011618.]

Critical Care
Reade MC, Angus DC. PAC-Man: game over for the pulmonary artery catheter? rit Care 2006 Feb; 10(1):e303. [Supported by grant EA-PAC R01 HS111620 (attributed to NIH).]

Health Care Analysis
Asada Y. Is health inequality across individuals of moral concern? Health Care Anal 2006 Mar; 14(1):25-36. [Supported by grant 1 R03 HS13116.]

JAMA
Banthin JS, Bernard DM. Changes in financial burdens for health care: national estimates for the population younger than 65 years, 1996 to 2003. JAMA 2006 Dec 13; 296(22):2712-9. [Authors are researchers in AHRQ's Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends.]

Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety
Hansen LB, Saseen JJ, Westfall JM. Evaluating sample medications in primary care: a practice-based research network study. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 2006 Dec; 32(12):688-92. [Supported by grant U18 HS011878.]

Casey MM, Wakefield M, Coburn AF, et al. Prioritizing patient safety interventions in small and rural hospitals. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 2006 Dec; 32(12):693-702. [Supported by grant 5 U1C RH00025-03 and 5 U1C RH00025-04, attributed to AHRQ and Office of Rural Health Policy.]

Journal of Aging and Health
Zapka JG, Carter R, Carter CL, et al. Care at the end of life: focus on communication and race. J Aging Health 2006 Dec; 18(6):791-813. [Supported by grant P011 HS108973.]

Marcantonio ER, OMalley AJ, Murkofsky RL, et al. Derivation and confirmation of scales measuring medical directors attitudes about the hospitalization of nursing home residents. J Aging Health 2006 Dec; 18(6):869-84. [Supported by grant R01 HS10645.]

Journal of Intensive Care Medicine
Stockwell DC, Slonim AD. Quality and safety in the intensive care unit. J Intensive Care Med 2006 Jul-Aug; 21(4):199-210. [Supported by grant K08 HS14009.]

Journal of Urban Health
Kessell ER, Bhatia R, Bamberger JD, et al. Public health care utilization in a cohort of homeless adult applicants to a supportive housing program. J Urban Health 2006 Sep; 83(5):860-73. [Supported by grant K08 HS011415-03.]

Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Mulkern RV, Barnes AS, Haker SJ, et al. Biexponential characterization of prostate tissue water diffusion decay curves over an extended b-factor range. Magn Reson Imaging 2006 Jun; 24(5):563-8. [Supported by grant R03 HS13234-01 (attributed to NIH).]

Medical Care
Srinivasan M, Franks P, Meredith LS, et al. Connoisseurs of care? Unannounced standardized patient ratings of physicians. Med Care 2006 Dec; 44(12):1092-8. [Supported by grant R01 HS1610-01A1 and R01 HS09963-01A1.]

Votruba ME, Cebul RD. Redirecting patients to improve stroke outcomes: implications of a volume-based approach to one urban market. Med Care 2006 Dec; 44(12):1129-36. [Supported by grant R01 HS09969.]

Pediatric Rehabilitation
Murphy NA, Hoff C, Jorgensen T, et al. A national perspective of surgery in children with cerebral palsy. Pediatr Rehabil 2006 Jul-Sep; 9:3):293-9. [Supported by grant P20 HS11826; uses AHRQ's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Kids' Inpatient Database (KID).]

Pediatrics
Haberland CA, Phibbs CS, Baker LC. Effect of opening midlevel neonatal intensive care units on the location of low birth weight births in California. Pediatrics 2006 Dec; 118(6):e1667-79. [Supported by grant R01 HD36914 (attributed to NICHD and AHRQ).]

Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
Lin SJ, Lambert B, Tan H, et al. Frequency estimates from prescription drug datasets (revision of #04-11-066A). Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2006 Jul; 15(7):512-20. [Supported by grant 5 R01 HS011609-01A2.]

PLoS Medicine
Barger LK, Ayas NT, Cade BE, et al. Impact of extended-duration shifts on medical errors, adverse events, and attentional failures. PLoS Med 2006 Dec 12; 3(12):e487. [Supported by grants R01 HS12032 and F32 HS14130.]

Psychiatric Services
Zatzick D, Roy-Byrne PP. From bedside to bench: how the epidemiology of clinical practice can inform the secondary prevention of PTSD. Psychiatr Serv 2006 Dec; 57(12):1726-30. [Supported by grant HS11372.]

Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Keenan G, Yakel E, Marriott D. HANDS: a revitalized technology supported care planning method to improve nursing handoffs. Stud Health Technol Inform 2006; 122:580-4. [Supported by grant 1 R01 HS015054-01.]

AHRQ-Related Articles

American Health Line
Residents: long hours can result in medical error, study finds. Am Health Line 2006 Dec 12; #11. [Reviews findings from AHRQ-funded article by Barger, et al. (PLoS Med, 2006) cited in AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles.]

Health care costs: Account for 10% of incomes in 50M households. Am Health Line 6 Dec 12; #4. [Reports on AHRQ-authored article by Banthin and Bernard (JAMA, 2006) cited in AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles.]

American Journal of Public Health
Koop CE. Health and health care for the 21st century: for all the people. Am J Public Health 2006 Dec; 96(12):2090-2. [Cites PHS guideline Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, 2000.]

Archives of Internal Medicine
Landon BE, Normand SL, Lessler A, et al. Quality of care for the treatment of acute medical conditions in US hospitals. Arch Intern Med 2006 Dec 11-15; 166(22):2511-7. [Cites AHRQ-funded articles by Needleman, et al. (N Engl J Med, 2002) and Person, et al. (Med Care, 2004).]

Bell CM, Bajcar J, Bierman AS, et al. Potentially unintended discontinuation of long-term medication use after elective surgical procedures. Arch Intern Med 2006 11-15; 166(22):2525-31. [Third author is former AHRQ researcher; cites AHRQ-funded articles by Schneeweiss, et al. (Am J Epidemiol, 2001 and J Clin Epidemiol, 2002).]

BNAs Health Care Policy Report
World Health Organization leads effort for hospital safety in seven-country project. BNA Health Care Policy Rep 2006 Dec 11; 14(48):1552-3. [Notes that project impacts will be measured using a package of tools that will include patient safety indicators developed by AHRQ.]

Group releases evaluation guidelines for programs to manage chronic conditions. BNA Health Care Policy Rep 2006 Dec 11; 14(48):1563-4. [Notes AHRQ participation in development of project report and hosting of a roundtable convened by the Disease Management Association on Sept. 11 soliciting comment from external and internal stakeholders.]

BNAs Health Plan and Provider Report
Group releases evaluation guidelines for programs to manage chronic conditions. BNA Health Plan Provider Rep 2006 Dec 13; 12(48):1394. [Notes AHRQ participation in development of project report and hosting of a roundtable convened by the Disease Management Association on Sept. 11 "soliciting comment from external and internal stakeholders.]

Health Care and Management Science
Cooper K, Brailsford SC, Davies R, et al. A review of health care models for coronary heart disease interventions. Health Care Manage Sci 2006 Nov; 9(4):311-24. [Cites cost benefit analysis (CBA) and cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) literature reviews by Elixhauser, et al. (Med Care, 1993 and 1998) to support the statement that there has been a rapid increase in the number of cost effectiveness analyses published in the medical literature in recent years.]

Sutherland JM, Preyra C. A mixture model approach to updating payment weights with an application to ICD-10 implementation. Health Care Manage Sci 2006 Nov; 9(4):349-57. [Cites AHRQ-authored article by Hsia (researcher in AHRQ's Center for Outcomes and Evidence), et al.(N Engl J Med, 1988).]

Joint commission Journal of Quality and Patient Safety
John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards: introduction. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 2006 Dec; 32(12):659-60. [Describes awards given in honor of former AHRQ director John M. Eisenberg.]

Bates D. An interview with Jerry Gurwitz. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 2006 Dec; 32(12):667-71. [Summarizes findings from AHRQ-funded studies on adverse drug events in nursing home residents (JAMA, 2003, Am J Med, 2005, J Am Geriatr Soc, 2005, and J Am Med Inform Assoc, 2006) and describes current AHRQ-funded study on nursing home staff/physician communication about the use of warfarin therapy; favorably mentions AHRQ's funding of a Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) focused solely on the geriatric population.]

Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Stepanikova I, Mollborn S, Cook KS, et al. Patients race, ethnicity, language, and trust in a physician. J Health Soc Behavior 2006 Dec; 47(4):390-405. [Cites AHRQ-funded articles by Safran, et al. (J Fam Pract,, 1998 and 2001), Taira, et al. (Health Serv Res, 2001), and Weech-Maldonado, et al. (Health Serv Res, 2001).]

Medical Care
Stone PW, Du Y, Cowell R, et al. Comparison of nurse, system and quality patient care outcomes in 8-hour and 12-hour shifts. Med Care 2006 Dec; 44(12):1099-106. [Cites AHRQ publications, Concepts and Methodology, 2005, and AHRQ Quality Indicators: Guide to Patient Safety Indicators, 2003.]

Pekkarinen L, Elovainio M, Sinervo T, et al. Nursing working conditions in relation to restraint practices in long-term care units. Med Care 2006 Dec; 44(12):1114-20. [Cites AHRQ-funded article by Castle and Mor (Med Care Res Rev, 1998).]

Duru OK, Mangione CM, Steers NW, et al. The association between clinical care strategies and the attenuation of racial/ethnic disparities in diabetes care: the Translating Research Into Action for Diabetes (TRIAD) study. Med Care 6 Dec; 44(12):1121-8. [Cites AHRQ-funded article by Schulman, et al. (N Engl J Med, 1999).]

Wu WY, Chen JJ, Shih A. Effect of quality improvement organization activities on outpatient diabetes care in eastern New York State. Med Care 2006 Dec; 44(12):1142-7. [Cites AHRQ-funded article by Bradley, et al. (Health Serv Res, 2005).]

Psychiatric Services
Cuddeback GS, Morrissey JP, Meyer PS. How many assertive community treatment teams do we need? Psychiatr Serv 2006 Dec; 57(12):1803-6. [Cites recommendations from the AHRQ-sponsored Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT) (Lehman and Steinwachs, Schizophrenia Bull, 1998) and Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)-Household Component data for 2002 (obtained from MEPSnet Web site.]

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)/Put Prevention Into Practice (PPIP)-Related Articles

American Journal of Public Health
Basch CE, Wolf RL, Brouse CH, et al. Telephone outreach to increase colorectal cancer screening in an urban minority population. Am J Public Health 2006 Dec; 96(12):2246-53. [Cites USPSTF evidence review of screening for colorectal cancer in adults at average risk (Pignone, et al., Ann Intern Med, 2002); cites AHRQ-authored article by Ball and Elixhauser (former AHRQ researcher and current researcher in AHRQ's Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets, respectively) (Med Care, 2006).]

Lancet
Djulbegovic B, Lyman GH. Screening mammography at 40-49 years: regret or no regret? Lancet 2006 Dec 9; 368(9552):2035-7. [Cites USPSTF recommendations on screening for breast cancer (Ann Intern Med, 2002) in comment on related article by Moss, et al. (Lancet, 2006).]

Medical Care
Kelleher KJ, Horwitz SM. Quality of mental health care for children: a familiar storyline. Med Care 2006 Dec; 44(12):1061-3. [Cites USPSTF recommendations on screening for depression on AHRQ Web site.]

Psychiatric Services
Kirkcaldy RD, Tynes LL. Best practices: Depression screening in a VA primary care clinic. Psychiatr Serv 2006 Dec; 57(12):1694-6. [Cites USPSTF recommendations on screening for depression (Ann Intern Med, 2002); cites AHRQ guideline, Depression in Primary Care, Vol. 1: Detection and Diagnosis, 1993).]

Research By Others Using AHRQ Data or Products

Archives of Pediatrics Adolesceence Medicine
Robbins JM, Tilford JM, Reading JA, et al. Reduction in newborns with discharge coding of in utero alcohol effects in the United States, 1993 to 2002. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2006 Dec; 160(12):1224-31. [Uses AHRQ's HCUP NIS to examine yearly trends in newborn hospitalizations for 10 years from 1993 to 2002.]

JAMA
Werner RM, Bradlow ET. Relationship between Medicares Hospital Compare performance measures and mortality rates. JAMA 2006 Dec 13; 296(22):2694-702. [Uses 30 comorbidities defined by Elixhauser, et al. (Med Care, 1998) to adjust calculations of risk-adjusted hospital mortality rates; cites AHRQ's HCUP-3 NIS as the source for data on annual hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction; cites AHRQ-funded article by Needleman, et al. (Health Serv Res, 2003).]

Psychiatric Services
Aparasu RR, Bhatara V. Antipsychotic use and expenditure in the United States. Psychiatr Serv 2006 Dec; 57(12):1693. [Uses MEPS 2003 Full Year Population Characteristics and Prescribed Medicines Files obtained from AHRQ Web site.]


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