Research Activities

March 2007, No. 319

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Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

AHRQ and the Ad Council encourage patients to ask questions and get more involved with their health care

Patient Safety and Quality

Efforts to improve chronic disease management quality yield better care delivery but not better intermediate outcomes
Reliability model improves hospital safety and eliminates bloodstream infections in the ICU
Studies highlight the interaction between managed care and market forces and their impact on quality of care
Barriers impede efforts to use a region-wide hospital medication error reporting system

Disparities/Minority Health

Blacks are more distrustful of equity in the organ donor system and favor providing benefits to donor families

Child/Adolescent Health

Certain types of severe abdominal injury may signal child abuse in young children
Substantially delaying the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine may lead to underimmunization of children
Children are more likely to attend a weight management program if location and time are convenient for parents
Some pediatric offices may not be prepared to handle emergencies such as seizures or severe asthmatic episodes
State Children's Health Insurance Programs have improved access to care for previously uninsured children
Urban influence codes reveal more about children's patterns of health care use and coverage

Chronic Disease

Stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus of the brain improves quality of life for patients with advanced Parkinson's disease
One-third of U.S. veterans suffer from arthritis, perhaps due to orthopedic injuries sustained in the military
Specific primary care office systems and quality improvement strategies may substantially affect the cost of diabetes care
Factors such as disease status and sex affect adherence to drug prescribing guidelines for hypertension

Emergency Medicine

Emergency departments with physician residents are less effective in determining which children require hospital admission
A color-coded tape helps EMTs calculate the correct epinephrine dose for children in cardiopulmonary arrest
Study provides national time averages for transporting trauma patients by ambulance and helicopter
Guidelines can help paramedics select which drugs to use to facilitate prehospital endotracheal intubation

Women's Health

Intimate partner abuse has no age limit

Elderly/Long-term Care

Older adults' psychological and health characteristics influence their use and timing of online health information searches
Use of the pain reliever propoxyphene is associated with a higher risk of hip fracture among the elderly
Reducing turnover of registered nurses and certified nursing assistants will help maintain nursing home staffing levels

Outcomes/Effectiveness Research

Higher-than-recommended doses of antipsychotic medications may not benefit people with schizophrenia and may increase side effects
Use of needle biopsy to diagnose lung nodules does not increase the risk of dying from localized nonsmall cell lung cancer

HIV/AIDS Research

HIV-infected women receive worse quality of care than HIV-infected men
Dysthymia may contribute to the disparity in use of antiretroviral therapy between men and women

Health Care Costs, and Financing

The financial burden of health care for people under age 65 increased between 1996 and 2003
Forty percent of families who leave welfare for work have no health insurance 19 months later

Acute Care/Hospitalization

Some patients on mechanical ventilation fare worse at low-volume hospitals
Regionalization of high-risk surgeries may not result in loss of patients or revenue from small rural hospitals

Agency News and Notes

Grant final reports now available from NTIS

Announcements

Task Force recommends against use of aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to prevent colorectal cancer
Research Briefs

AHRQ Publication No. 07-0021
Current as of March 2007

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Internet Citation:

Research Activities Newsletter. March 2007, No. 319. AHRQ Publication No. 07-0021. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/mar07/

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