Research Activities

August 2007, No. 324

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Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

Hospice care dramatically reduces end-of-life hospitalizations of nursing home residents

Child/Adolescent Health

Hope, experience, and education help nurses feel more comfortable and competent in providing palliative care to children
Rhinoviruses are associated with numerous hospitalizations of children under the age of 5 years, especially those with asthma
Pediatricians recognize most overweight or obese children without using proportional weight curves
The gender of both the child and parent affect a child's participation during visits to the doctor
Many children treated at pediatric hospitals receive at least one "off-label" medication

Women's Health

Location of shelters and other assistance programs impacts the incidence of violence against homeless women
Risk of maternal and fetal labor and delivery complications increase as pregnancy progresses beyond 39 weeks of gestation
Connecticut midwife practices vary greatly in compensation and employment structures

Men's Health

Certain pelvic fracture patterns are more likely to cause urethral injury in men who suffer blunt trauma
Early detection and aggressive treatment for prostate cancer is linked to more use of androgen-deprivation therapy for older men

Patient Safety and Quality

More than one-third of hospitalized patients are concerned about medical errors, which they define more broadly than clinicians
Over half of missed diagnoses in the emergency department alleged in malpractice claims resulted in harm to patients
Few of the safeguards routinely used for intravenous chemotherapy have been adopted for oral chemotherapy at U.S. cancer centers
Price competition induced by HMOs and other managed care plans in California has not diminished hospital quality of care

Disparities/Minority Health

Disability determinations for job-related low back pain have questionable validity and reflect racial inequities

Health Information Technology

Changes in workflow and tasks need to be assessed when introducing bar code medication administration into nurses' work

Outcomes/Effectiveness Research

Rates of inappropriate carotid endarterectomy surgery decreased after publication of the results from clinical trials
Acute respiratory distress syndrome leads to poor outcomes and high care costs, even after treatment with inhaled nitric oxide
Pertussis vaccination in adults can be cost-effective depending on incidence rates
Attaining clinical targets among hemodialysis patients is linked to better outcomes

Chronic Disease

How well dialysis patients view their current health at the start of hemodialysis is related to subsequent outcomes and utilization
Patients infected with both HIV and hepatitis C virus lose more weight than those with only one of the infections

Access to Care

Medication therapy management programs varied widely after initial implementation of the Medicare Part D drug benefit
Socioeconomically disadvantaged patients with lupus have less access to and use of health care

Acute Care/Hospitalization

Despite prior-approval requirements of hospitals for certain antimicrobials, doctors still manage to "stealth dose"
Substance abuse and psychiatric illness account for the majority of hospital admissions among homeless veterans
Providing combination medication for elderly patients following a heart attack can save both lives and money

Health Care Costs and Financing

Financial pressures on hospitals in the 1990s led to less investment in care resources and poorer quality of care
Education, income, and wealth all affect medical care expenditures among Medicare managed care members

Agency News and Notes

Musculoskeletal procedures account for over 10 percent of all hospital care in the United States

Announcements

New AHRQ resources can help States and local communities with disaster planning and response involving nursing homes
New reports identify State-level privacy and security solutions for secure exchange of health information

Research Briefs

Research Briefs

AHRQ Publication No. 07-0073
Current as of August 2007

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Internet Citation:

Research Activities Newsletter. August 2007, No. 324. AHRQ Publication No. 07-0073. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/aug07/

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