Boles, M., Getchell, W.S., Feldman, G., and others (2000). "Primary prevention studies and the healthy elderly: Evaluating barriers to recruitment." (NRSA training grant T32 HS00069). Journal of Community Health 25(4), pp. 279-292.
There are numerous barriers to recruiting elderly men and women who are healthy to participate in primary prevention studies. To better identify and understand the barriers, these investigators conducted and evaluated a comprehensive recruitment strategy to encourage healthy elderly members of a large health maintenance organization to participate in a primary prevention study testing aspirin. They used a computerized medical database screening, statistical sampling, health plan mailings, E-mail communication, and primary care providers in their recruitment efforts. Of the 44 percent who responded to recruitment efforts, only 3 percent were enrolled, an overall yield of slightly less than 2 percent. A followup of focus groups with "eligible refusers" revealed that they were hesitant to give up their choice to use aspirin, unwilling to travel to the research center, and reluctant to risk their tenuous hold on good health to participate in a study of primary prevention. Awareness of these attitudes can help researchers design more effective recruitment strategies to involve healthy elderly people in studies.
Gausche-Hill, M., Lewis, R.J., Gunter, C.S., and others. (2000, October). "Design and implementation of a controlled trial of pediatric endotracheal intubation in the out-of-hospital setting." (AHRQ grant HS09166). Annals of Emergency Medicine 36(4), pp. 356-365.
This article describes the design and implementation of the 4-year Pediatric Airway Management Project, the largest prospective, controlled out-of-hospital study of airway management of children ever reported. Currently, use of bag-valve-mask ventilation (BVM) and endotracheal intubation (ETI) are the two airway management techniques available to paramedics to support the breathing of critically ill or injured children. Many emergency medical systems have incorporated pediatric ETI into their paramedic scope of practice, and 97 percent of paramedic primary training programs teach ETI, despite the lack of sufficient data demonstrating improved patient survival or other meaningful outcome with ETI. The Pediatric Airway Management Project was conducted to determine whether paramedics trained in pediatric ETI can improve survival for children having serious breathing problems (e.g., infants with sudden infant death syndrome or children suffering from near drowning, respiratory arrest, seizures, or multiple trauma).
Editor's Note: Select for a summary of findings from this study in the February 2000 Research Activities, based on an article in the January 9, 2000, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association 283(6), pp. 783-790, by Dr. Gausche and colleagues.
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Current as of December 2000
AHRQ Publication No. 01-0013
Internet Citation:
Research Activities newsletter. December 2000, No. 244. AHRQ Publication No. 01-0013. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/dec00/
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