Assessing and Understanding Measurement
Equivalence in Health Outcome Measures: Issues for Further Quantitative
and Qualitative Inquiry. C. McHorney, J. Fleishman, Medical
Care 44(11, Supplement 3): November 2006, S205-S210. Presents an
epilogue to a special journal issue devoted to issues of measurement
equivalence in diverse populations, particularly those characterized by
disparities. (AHRQ 07-R018)
Completeness of Cause of Injury Coding in
Healthcare Administrative Databases in the United States, 2001.
J. Coben, C. Steiner, M. Barrett, et al., Injury Prevention 12:2006,
199-201. Examines the completeness of external cause of injury coding
(E-coding) within health care administrative databases in the United States
and identifies factors that contribute to variations in E-code reporting
across States. (AHRQ 07-R009)
Creating and Synthesizing Evidence with
Decision Makers in Mind: Integrating Evidence from Clinical Trials and
Other Study Designs. D. Atkins, Medical Care 45:2007,
S16-S22. Examines the limitations of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in
providing the information decisionmakers need to choose the best treatment for
individual patients and explains how information from observational studies
can supplement evidence from RCTs. (AHRQ 08-R012)
Enhancement of Claims Data to Improve Risk
Adjustment of Hospital Mortality. M. Pine, H. Jordan, A.
Elixhauser, et al., Journal of the American Medical Association
267(1): January 3, 2007, 71-76. Discusses the effect on risk-adjusted hospital
mortality rates of adding "present" on admission codes and numerical
laboratory data to administrative claims data. The goal is to distinguish
between conditions that were present or not present on hospital admission.
(AHRQ 07-R028)
Global Self-Rated Mental Health: Associations
with Other Mental Health Measures and with Role Functioning. J.
Fleishman, S. Zuvekas, Medical Care 45(7): July 2007, 602-609.
Examines the association of self-reported mental health with other validated
measures of mental health and role functioning to clarify the interpretation
and usefulness of self-reported mental health data. (AHRQ 07-R069)
Health Limitations and Quality of Life
Associated with Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases by Phase of
Care. K. Yabroff, T. McNeel, W. Waldron, et al., Medical
Care 45(7): July 2007, 629-637. Presents estimates of health
limitations and health-related quality of life associated with cancer and
other chronic conditions in a nationally representative sample within a
phase-of-care (i.e., immediately after diagnosis, continuing care, last year
of life, etc.) framework. (AHRQ 07-R079)
Identifying, Categorizing, and Evaluating
Health Care Efficiency Measures. Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality, April 2008, 78 pp. Analyzes various measures of health care
efficiency, including criteria for evaluating measures, examples of how
measures can be applied, and details on the various sources examined for this
report. (AHRQ 08-0030)
Improving Depiction of Benefits and Harms:
Analyses of Studies of Well-Known Therapeutics and Review of High-Impact
Medical Journals. A. Sedrakyan, C. Shih, Medical Care
45(10 Suppl 2): October 2007, S23-S28. Provides and discusses examples of how
researchers present information about benefits and harms for well-known
therapeutics when they publish their studies. (AHRQ 08-R013)
Increasing the Relevance of Research to
Health Care Managers: Hospital CEO Imperatives for Improving Quality and
Lowering Costs. J. Alexander, L. Hearld, H. Jiang, et al.,
Health Care Management Review 23(2): April-June 2007, 150-159.
Examines how hospital leaders view key determinants of hospital quality and
costs and the fundamental ways these leaders think about solutions to quality
and cost issues in their organizations. (AHRQ 07-R077)
Interdisciplinary Research: The Role of
Nursing Education. H. Hubbard, Journal of Professional
Nursing 22(5): September/October 2006, 266-269. Explores the role of
nursing faculty in doctoral nursing programs to inspire, support, and guide
students into avenues of important clinical and health services research.
(AHRQ 07-R006)
Intersections for Mutual Success in Nursing
and Health Services Research. C. Clancy, B. Sharp, H. Hubbard,
Nursing Outlook 53(6): November/December 2005, 263-265. Discusses
issues of access to care/nursing workforce, health behavior, quality of care,
cost/cost-effectiveness, and organization/delivery of care, and presents an
agenda for nursing health services research. (AHRQ 06-R026)
On Modelling Response Propensity for Dwelling
Unit (DU) Level Non-Response Adjustment in the Medical Expenditure Panel
Survey (MEPS). L. Wun, T. Ezzati-Rice, N. Diaz-Tena, et al.,
Statistics in Medicine 26:2007, 1875-1884. Summarizes research on
comparing alternative approaches for modeling response propensity to
compensate for dwelling unit (i.e., household level) non-response in the MEPS.
(AHRQ 07-R9050)
An Opportunity for Health Services Research:
The AHRQ Furthers Nursing Practice. H. Hubbard, B. Collins Sharp,
American Journal of Nursing 104(11): November 2004, 89-91. Discusses
examples of nursing-related research from AHRQ. (AHRQ 05-R016)
Organizational Climate: Implications for the
Home Healthcare Workforce. P. Stone, D. Pastor, M. Harrison,
Journal for Healthcare Quality 28(1): January/February 2006, 4-11.
Examines how organizational climate has been defined and measured in health
services research and identifies factors most important in home health care
delivery. (AHRQ 06-R020)
Population-Based Trends in Volumes and Rates
of Ambulatory Lumbar Spine Surgery. D. Gray, R. Deyo, W. Kreuter,
et al., Spine 31(17):2006, 1957-1963. Examines the distribution of
ambulatory lumbar spine surgery procedures being performed in the United
States and estimates the impact on overall lumbar spine surgery rates. (AHRQ
07-R010)
So What? The Challenge of Doing "Need to
Know" Versus "Would Like to Know" Research. R.
Hughes, C. Clancy, Applied Nursing Research 20:2007, 210-213.
Presents and discusses six considerations for prioritizing health research
topics, including intended audience, information gaps, timing, sources of
information, determinants of priority, and relevance. (AHRQ 08-R024)
Some Tips on Getting Funding for Health
Services Research. R. Hughes, Applied Nursing Research
17(4): November 2004, 305-307. Advice on submitting clear and methodologically
sound grant applications in order to be successful in receiving Federal
research grants. (AHRQ 05-R035)
Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Hospital
Inefficiency: A Review of Empirical Issues and an Assessment of
Robustness. M. Rosko, R. Mutter, Medical Care Research and
Review November 28, 2007, e-pub. Presents the results of an analysis
of 20 stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) studies of hospital inefficiency in
the United States and compares the use of SFA with previously used methods in
hospital studies to determine the robustness of SFA in estimating cost
inefficiency. (AHRQ 08-R021)
Study Designs for Effectiveness and
Translation Research: Identifying Trade-offs. S. Mercer, B.
DeVinney, L. Fine, et al, American Journal of Preventive Medicine
33(2):2007, 139-154. Summarizes the presentations and conclusions of a May
2004 symposium during which attendees weighed the strengths, limitations, and
trade-offs between alternate designs for studying the effectiveness and
translation of complex, multilevel health interventions. (AHRQ 07-R071)
Translating Research Into Nursing Practice:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. B. Collins Sharp, H.
Hubbard, C. Jones, Nursing Outlook 53(1):2005, 46-48. Describes
opportunities for nurse scientists, administrators, and clinicians to interact
with AHRQ programs that fund and generate research while seeking to translate
that research into practice and policy. (AHRQ 05-R040)
Understanding and Enhancing the Value of
Hospital Discharge Data. J. Schoenman, J. Sutton, A. Elixhauser,
D. Love, Medical Care Research and Review 64(4): August 2007,
449-468. Summarizes how hospital discharge data are used, identifies strengths
and shortcomings, and presents suggestions for enhancing the usefulness of the
data. (AHRQ 08-R002)
The Validity of ICD-9-CM Codes in Identifying
Postoperative Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism. C.
Zhan, J. Battles, Y. Chiang, et al., Joint Commission Journal on Quality
and Patient Safety 22(6): June 2007, 326-331. Examines the usefulness
and validity of using ICD-9-CM codes to identify and study deep vein
thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in postsurgical patients. (AHRQ 07-R074)
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