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Fact Sheet
HSRPROJ
(Health Services Research Projects in Progress)

HSRProj, a database providing access to ongoing grants and contracts in health services research, is available free from the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It has its own interface at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hsrproj/ . It is also available via the NLM Gateway (http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov). HSRProj is part of the "Other Collections" category of resources. The NLM Gateway is a Web-based system that allows users of NLM services to initiate searches in multiple retrieval systems from one interface, providing "one-stop searching" for many of NLM's information resources.

To help HSRProj users navigate the new interface and the NLM Gateway, AcademyHealth (formerly Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy) has made available HSRProj Quick Search and Detailed Instructions . This Web site has tips on searching, downloading, and printing HSRProj records.

HSRProj contains descriptions of research in progress funded by federal and private grants and contracts for use by policy makers, managers, clinicians and other decision makers. It provides access to information about health services research in progress before results are available in a published form.

Records cover both grants and contracts awarded by major public and private funding agencies and foundations. Users can retrieve names of performing and sponsoring agencies, names and addresses of the principal investigator, beginning and ending years of the project, information about study design and methodology including demographic characteristics of the study group, number of subjects in the study population, population base of the study sample, and source of the project data. Records are indexed with NLM's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) and, when available, NIH's CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects) keywords. Also, project descriptions are included whenever possible.

HSRProj is a joint effort of the AcademyHealth and the Cecil G. Sheps Center at the University of North Carolina with funding from the NLM. The National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR) (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/) coordinates its continued development for NLM.

For more information on accessing HSRProj using the NLM products contact:

Customer Service
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
1-888-FINDNLM (1-888-346-3656) (Voice)
e-mail: custserv@nlm.nih.gov

For information on HSRProj content contact:

National Information Center on
Health Services Research and
Health Care Technology (NICHSR)
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Building 38A, Mail Stop 20
Bethesda, MD 20894
(301) 496-0176 (Voice)
(301) 402-3193 (FAX)
e-mail: nichsr@nlm.nih.gov
Internet: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/nichsr.html

Sample HSRProj Record

Title: Risk and preferences: racial disparities in cardiac care.
Investigator: Stockman, Carol K
Place: University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh, Department of Health Services Administration, 4200 5th Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Email Address: stockman@pitt.edu
Performing Organization: University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh, Department of Health Services Administration
Supporting Agency: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Initial Year: 2002
Final Year: 2007
Grant Support: 5K25HL069880-02
Award Type: Grant
Abstract: African Americans die of heart disease at a rate 40 percent higher than whites. They also receive fewer invasive cardiovascular diagnostic and revascularization procedures than white patients. Addressing racial treatment disparities is of the utmost importance to the extent that they contribute to higher death rates for African Americans. While racial discrimination may play a role in determining which procedures are offered to African Americans, studies show that even when African Americans are offered the same treatment options as whites, they are less likely to agree to undergo invasive cardiovascular procedures, such as coronary artery bypass graft surgery. These findings suggest that patients' preferences may be important in explaining racial treatment disparities and warrant investigation. The immediate goal of this project is to explore racial disparities in the utilization rate of invasive cardiovascular diagnostic and revascularization procedures by examining the role that patients' risk preferences and risk perceptions play in determining their treatment choices. Risk preferences can affect medical treatment decisions, in that all medical treatments carry with them some degree of risk. Risk perceptions -- individual beliefs about the risk associated with a procedure, which need not be accurate -- also may influence medical treatment decisions. The specific aims of this proposal are: 1) to refine and investigate the psychometric characteristics of an instrument to measure patients' belief in good and back luck; 2) to refine and investigate the characteristics of instruments to measure risk preferences in a patient population; and 3) to examine whether racial differences in risk aversion and risk perceptions explain some of the disparity between whites and African Americans in the utilization of cardiovascular surgery. The long-term goal of this proposal is to enable the candidate to become an independent health services researcher who can improve patient welfare through her study of patient preferences and how they affect medical treatment decisions.
Country: United States
State: Pennsylvania (PA)
Zip Code: 15260
UI: HSRP20024105
Project Status: Ongoing

A complete list of NLM Fact Sheets is available at:
(alphabetical list) http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsheets.html
(subject list): http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsubj.html

Or write to:

FACT SHEETS
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland 20894

Phone: (301) 496-6308
Fax: (301) 496-4450
email: publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov

Last updated: 03 August 2004
First published: 18 November 2002
Metadata| Permanence level: Permanent: Stable Content