Research Activities

April 2006, No. 308

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Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

AHRQ study finds wrong-site surgery is rare and preventable

Patient Safety and Quality

Studies examine ways to improve the quality of diabetes care
Patient responses to medical errors depend on the timeliness and quality of the physician's communication about the event
Immediate interpretation of lung tissue samples and use of transmucosal fine-needle aspiration reduces pathology errors
Over one-third of outpatients prescribed drugs for the first time do not receive recommended laboratory monitoring

CAHPS® Hospital Survey

Researchers describe the development and testing of the CAHPS® Hospital Survey

Health Information Technology

New information will help health care providers adopt health information technologies

Disparities/Minority Health

Black patients are more likely to die after major surgery than white patients
Very low-birthweight babies treated at minority-serving hospitals have higher death rates
Dialysis patients who are black, smoke, or use illicit drugs are more likely to skip treatments

Child/Adolescent Health

Wisconsin study finds hundreds of hospitalizations for self-poisonings among 12- to 17-year-olds
Study hints at link between breastfeeding and intelligence
A school-based weight loss/exercise program can reduce weight among low-income black children
Most teenagers with chlamydial infections receive appropriate antibiotics, but fewer receive other recommended care
Postoperative infection of a child's chest cavity by Staphylococcus aureus is a risk factor for bloodstream infection

End-of-Life Care

Doctor-patient communication is critical to how parents view the quality of end-of-life care for children with cancer

Outcomes/Effectiveness Research

Certain clinical features are associated with seizure frequency after epilepsy surgery
Clinical factors can identify blunt head injury patients at low risk for intracranial injuries
More intense guideline implementation results in more patients treated appropriately for pneumonia
Clinician recommendations for pneumonia vaccination play a key role in vaccination rates

Pharmaceutical Research

Although inappropriate for use in older adults, propoxyphene was widely prescribed to elderly patients in the 1990s
Geographic access to most types of doctors has improved, but some smaller specialties have not spread to the most rural areas
Increasing specialization of generalist surgeons confounds workforce projections

Health Care Costs and Financing

Higher insurance premiums and expanded Medicaid eligibility have reduced family coverage in employer-related health plans
One-fourth of America's non-elderly poor go years without the protection of health insurance

Agency News and Notes

AHRQ releases new evidence report on cesarean delivery on maternal request
New chartbook profiles racial/ethnic differences
AHRQ releases a new report on therapies for anorexia nervosa

Announcements

New online health care information resource is available from AHRQ
Research Briefs

AHRQ Publication No. 06-0035
Current as of April 2006

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Internet Citation:

Research Activities Newsletter. April 2006, No. 308. AHRQ Publication No. 06-0035. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/apr06/

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