National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
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AHRQ Research Studies Date
Topics
- Adverse Drug Events (ADE) (19)
- Adverse Events (21)
- Antibiotics (6)
- Antimicrobial Stewardship (4)
- Behavioral Health (1)
- Blood Clots (1)
- Cancer (1)
- Cardiovascular Conditions (4)
- Care Coordination (1)
- Children/Adolescents (5)
- Chronic Conditions (2)
- Clinical Decision Support (CDS) (3)
- Clinician-Patient Communication (1)
- Communication (2)
- Critical Care (2)
- Data (1)
- Dental and Oral Health (1)
- Depression (1)
- Diabetes (1)
- Diagnostic Safety and Quality (1)
- Digestive Disease and Health (1)
- Education: Patient and Caregiver (1)
- Elderly (6)
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs) (5)
- Electronic Prescribing (E-Prescribing) (1)
- Emergency Department (1)
- Evidence-Based Practice (5)
- Falls (1)
- Guidelines (1)
- Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) (2)
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) (1)
- Healthcare Costs (1)
- Healthcare Delivery (2)
- Health Information Technology (HIT) (11)
- Health Literacy (2)
- Heart Disease and Health (3)
- Hospital Discharge (2)
- Hospitalization (1)
- Hospitals (4)
- Implementation (1)
- Infectious Diseases (1)
- Injuries and Wounds (1)
- Inpatient Care (1)
- Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (3)
- Kidney Disease and Health (2)
- Labor and Delivery (1)
- Long-Term Care (1)
- Maternal Care (1)
- Medical Errors (6)
- (-) Medication (46)
- Medication: Safety (26)
- Newborns/Infants (3)
- Nursing (1)
- Nursing Homes (1)
- Obesity (1)
- Opioids (4)
- Outcomes (2)
- Patient-Centered Healthcare (1)
- Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (2)
- Patient and Family Engagement (1)
- (-) Patient Safety (46)
- Practice Patterns (3)
- Pregnancy (1)
- Prevention (2)
- Provider (5)
- Provider: Clinician (1)
- Provider: Pharmacist (5)
- Quality Improvement (6)
- Quality Indicators (QIs) (1)
- Quality Measures (1)
- Quality of Care (5)
- Racial and Ethnic Minorities (1)
- Registries (1)
- Risk (2)
- Shared Decision Making (4)
- Substance Abuse (1)
- Surgery (4)
- Tools & Toolkits (1)
- Transitions of Care (2)
- Women (1)
AHRQ Research Studies
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Research Studies is a compilation of published research articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers.
Results
1 to 25 of 46 Research Studies DisplayedMcCarthy DM, Curtis LM, Courtney DM
A multifaceted intervention to improve patient knowledge and safe use of opioids: results of the ED EMC(2) randomized controlled trial.
Despite increased focus on opioid prescribing, little is known about the influence of prescription opioid medication information given to patients in the emergency department (ED). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of an Electronic Medication Complete Communication (EMC(2)) Opioid Strategy on patients' safe use of opioids and knowledge about opioids. The study found that the EMC(2) tools improved demonstrated safe dosing, but these benefits did not translate into actual use based on medication dairies. The text-messaging intervention did result in improved patient knowledge.
AHRQ-funded; HS023459.
Citation: McCarthy DM, Curtis LM, Courtney DM .
A multifaceted intervention to improve patient knowledge and safe use of opioids: results of the ED EMC(2) randomized controlled trial.
Acad Emerg Med 2019 Dec;26(12):1311-25. doi: 10.1111/acem.13860..
Keywords: Opioids, Medication, Medication: Safety, Patient Safety, Health Literacy, Education: Patient and Caregiver, Clinician-Patient Communication, Communication, Health Information Technology (HIT)
Stoops C, Stone S, Evans E
Baby NINJA (Nephrotoxic Injury Negated by Just-in-Time Action): reduction of nephrotoxic medication-associated acute kidney injury in the neonatal intensive care unit.
The purpose of this study was to test if acute kidney injury (AKI) is preventable in patients in the neonatal intensive care unit and if infants at high-risk of nephrotoxic medication-induced AKI can be identified using a systematic surveillance program previously used in the pediatric non-intensive care unit setting. The authors concluded that a systematic surveillance program to identify high-risk infants can prevent nephrotoxic-induced AKI and has the potential to prevent short and long-term consequences of AKI in critically ill infants.
AHRQ-funded; HS023763.
Citation: Stoops C, Stone S, Evans E .
Baby NINJA (Nephrotoxic Injury Negated by Just-in-Time Action): reduction of nephrotoxic medication-associated acute kidney injury in the neonatal intensive care unit.
J Pediatr 2019 Dec;215:223-28.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.08.046..
Keywords: Newborns/Infants, Medication, Medication: Safety, Patient Safety, Kidney Disease and Health, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Critical Care, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Prevention, Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events
Ailabouni NJ, Marcum ZA, Schmader KE
Medication use quality and safety in older adults: 2018 update.
This study identified four key articles from 2018 that address medication use quality and safety for older adults. The first study highlighted a cluster-randomized trial that utilized a pharmacist-led education-based intervention delivered to both patients and doctors to deprescribe four types of inappropriate medications. The second study from the UK examined the association between anticholinergic exposure, overall and by medication class, and dementia risk in 40,770 older adults. The third study was a Swedish longitudinal cohort study examining the association between antihypertensive medications and incident dementia. The fourth and last study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial and examined the effect of daily low-dose aspirin for primary prevention of cardiac events and hemorrhage in 19,144 community-dwelling older adults.
AHRQ-funded; HS022982.
Citation: Ailabouni NJ, Marcum ZA, Schmader KE .
Medication use quality and safety in older adults: 2018 update.
J Am Geriatr Soc 2019 Dec;67(12):2458-62. doi: 10.1111/jgs.16243..
Keywords: Elderly, Medication, Medication: Safety, Patient Safety, Quality of Care, Provider: Pharmacist, Provider
Bushnell GA, Crystal S, Olfson M
Prescription benzodiazepine use in privately insured U.S. children and adolescents.
The goal of this cohort study was to describe youth initiating prescription benzodiazepine treatment, identify potential indications and prescribing concerns, estimate the duration of treatment by potential indication, and identify factors that predict long-term use. Investigators found that U.S. children and adolescents are prescribed benzodiazepines for various mental health and other medical conditions, many lacking evidence of pediatric efficacy. They concluded that long-term benzodiazepine treatment, concurrent opioid prescriptions, psychotropic use, and prior substance use disorder diagnoses suggest safety risks among some youth prescribed benzodiazepines.
AHRQ-funded; HS026001; HS021112; HS023258.
Citation: Bushnell GA, Crystal S, Olfson M .
Prescription benzodiazepine use in privately insured U.S. children and adolescents.
Am J Prev Med 2019 Dec;57(6):775-85. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.07.006..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Medication, Medication: Safety, Patient Safety
Carayon P, Wetterneck TB, Cartmill R
Medication safety in two intensive care units of a community teaching hospital after electronic health record implementation: sociotechnical and human factors engineering considerations.
This study examined the impact of electronic health record (EHR) implementation in two intensive care units (ICUs). The authors assessed 1254 consecutive admissions before and after an EHR implementation. They identified 4063 medication-related events either pre-implementation (2074 events) or post-implementation (1989 events). The overall potential for harm due to medication errors decreased post-implementation, but only 2 of the 3 error rates were significantly lower post-implementation. They observed reductions in rates of medication errors per admission at the stages of transcription, dispensing, and administration. In the ordering stage, 4 error types decreased post-implementation (orders with omitted information, error-prone abbreviations, illegible orders, failure to renew orders) and 4 error types increased post-implementation (orders of wrong drug, orders containing a wrong start or stop time, duplicate orders, orders with inappropriate or wrong information).
AHRQ-funded; HS015274; HS000083.
Citation: Carayon P, Wetterneck TB, Cartmill R .
Medication safety in two intensive care units of a community teaching hospital after electronic health record implementation: sociotechnical and human factors engineering considerations.
J Patient Saf 2021 Aug 1;17(5):e429-e39. doi: 10.1097/pts.0000000000000358.
AHRQ-funded; HS015274; HS000083..
AHRQ-funded; HS015274; HS000083..
Keywords: Medication: Safety, Medication, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Critical Care, Patient Safety, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT)
Stolldorf DP, Schnipper JL, Mixon AS
Organisational context of hospitals that participated in a multi-site mentored medication reconciliation quality improvement project (MARQUIS2): a cross-sectional observational study.
Medication reconciliation (MedRec) is an important patient safety strategy and is widespread in US hospitals and globally. Nevertheless, high quality MedRec has been difficult to implement. As part of a larger study investigating MedRec interventions, the investigators evaluated and compared organisational contextual factors and team cohesion by hospital characteristics and implementation team members' profession to better understand the environmental context and its correlates during a multi-site quality improvement (QI) initiative.
AHRQ-funded; HS025486.
Citation: Stolldorf DP, Schnipper JL, Mixon AS .
Organisational context of hospitals that participated in a multi-site mentored medication reconciliation quality improvement project (MARQUIS2): a cross-sectional observational study.
BMJ Open 2019 Nov 2;9(11):e030834. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030834.
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Keywords: Medication, Quality Improvement, Hospitals, Medication: Safety, Patient Safety, Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events, Medical Errors, Implementation
Reddy A, Lester CA, Stone JA
Applying participatory design to a pharmacy system intervention.
Researchers used participatory design (PD) to develop a patient-centered prototype for a community pharmacy. The stakeholders recruited for the intervention were pharmacy staff and older adult patients who received prescriptions at the pharmacy corporation involved in this study. The PD process is a series of six adaptive sessions: 1) problem identification, 2) solution generation, 3) convergence, 4) prototyping, 5) initial evaluation, and 6) formative evaluation. The sessions resulted in the development of a patient-centered community pharmacy prototype.
AHRQ-funded; HS024490.
Citation: Reddy A, Lester CA, Stone JA .
Applying participatory design to a pharmacy system intervention.
Res Social Adm Pharm 2019 Nov;15(11):1358-67. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2018.11.012..
Keywords: Provider: Pharmacist, Patient-Centered Healthcare, Medication, Patient Safety
Kurian S, Baloy B, Baird J
Attitudes and perceptions of naloxone dispensing among a sample of Massachusetts community pharmacy technicians.
AHRQ-funded; HS024021.
Citation: Kurian S, Baloy B, Baird J .
Attitudes and perceptions of naloxone dispensing among a sample of Massachusetts community pharmacy technicians.
J Am Pharm Assoc 2019 Nov-Dec;59(6):824-31. doi: 10.1016/j.japh.2019.08.009..
Keywords: Medication, Medication: Safety, Opioids, Substance Abuse, Provider: Pharmacist, Provider, Patient Safety
Lambert BL, Galanter W, Liu KL
Automated detection of wrong-drug prescribing errors.
Investigators assessed the specificity of an algorithm designed to detect look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) medication prescribing errors in electronic health record (EHR) data. They found that automated detection of LASA medication errors is feasible and can reveal errors not currently detected by other means. Additionally, real-time error detection is not possible with the current system. They suggested that further development should replicate their analysis in other health systems and on a larger set of medications and should decrease clinician time spent reviewing false-positive triggers by increasing specificity.
AHRQ-funded; HS021093.
Citation: Lambert BL, Galanter W, Liu KL .
Automated detection of wrong-drug prescribing errors.
BMJ Qual Saf 2019 Nov;28(11):908-15. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2019-009420..
Keywords: Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events, Clinical Decision Support (CDS), Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Medical Errors, Medication, Patient Safety
Leeds IL, DiBrito SR, Canner JK
Cost-benefit limitations of extended, outpatient venous thromboembolism prophylaxis following surgery for Crohn's disease.
This goal of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of extended prophylaxis in patients with Crohn's disease after abdominal surgery. A decision tree model was used to assess cost-effectiveness and cost-per-case averted with extended-duration venous thromboembolism prophylaxis following abdominal surgery. Results showed that extended prophylaxis in patients with Crohn's disease postoperatively is not cost-effective when the cumulative incidence of posthospital thrombosis remains less than 4.9%. These findings are driven by the low absolute risk of thrombosis in this population and the considerable cost of universal treatment.
AHRQ-funded; HS024547.
Citation: Leeds IL, DiBrito SR, Canner JK .
Cost-benefit limitations of extended, outpatient venous thromboembolism prophylaxis following surgery for Crohn's disease.
Dis Colon Rectum 2019 Nov;62(11):1371-80. doi: 10.1097/dcr.0000000000001461..
Keywords: Prevention, Digestive Disease and Health, Surgery, Healthcare Costs, Adverse Events, Patient Safety, Blood Clots, Shared Decision Making, Medication
Blecker S, Austrian JS, Horwitz LI
Interrupting providers with clinical decision support to improve care for heart failure.
The goal of this study was to develop a clinical decision support (CDS) system to recommend an angiotenson converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor during hospitalization so it could be promoted for continuation at discharge. Patients who were hospitalized with reduced ejection fraction were pseudo-randomized to deliver interruptive or non-interruptive CDS alerts to providers based on the patients’ even or odd medical record number. The utilization rate was higher for interruptive alert versus non-interruptive alert hospitalizations for a sample of 958. This resulted in improved quality of care for heart failure patients.
AHRQ-funded; HS023683.
Citation: Blecker S, Austrian JS, Horwitz LI .
Interrupting providers with clinical decision support to improve care for heart failure.
Int J Med Inform 2019 Nov;131:103956. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2019.103956..
Keywords: Clinical Decision Support (CDS), Shared Decision Making, Heart Disease and Health, Cardiovascular Conditions, Medication, Medication: Safety, Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Goswami E, Ogden RK, Bennett WE
Evidence-based development of a nephrotoxic medication list to screen for acute kidney injury risk in hospitalized children.
This paper describes an initiative to develop an evidence-based list of nephrotoxic medications to screen for acute kidney injury (AKI) risk in hospitalized children. This initiative, called the Nephrotoxic Injury Negated by Just-in-time Action quality improvement collaborative, convened a Nephrotoxic Medication (NTMx) Subcommittee composed of pediatric nephrologists, a pharmacist, and a pediatric intensivist. The committee reviewed NTMx lists, conducted a literature review of the disputed medications, and assigned an evidence grade based on the association between nephrotoxicity and the quality of the data. The subcommittee then came to a majority consensus to which medications should be included on the list. The list was presented to the larger collaborative and voted on. This list will be continually updated and voted on annually.
AHRQ-funded; HS023763.
Citation: Goswami E, Ogden RK, Bennett WE .
Evidence-based development of a nephrotoxic medication list to screen for acute kidney injury risk in hospitalized children.
Am J Health Syst Pharm 2019 Oct 30;76(22):1869-74. doi: 10.1093/ajhp/zxz203..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Medication: Safety, Medication, Patient Safety, Risk, Evidence-Based Practice, Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events
Adelman JS, Applebaum JR, Southern WN
Risk of wrong-patient orders among multiple vs singleton births in the neonatal intensive care units of 2 integrated health care systems.
Researchers assessed the risk of wrong-patient orders among multiple-birth infants and singletons receiving care in the NICU and examined the proportion of wrong-patient orders between multiple-birth infants and siblings (intrafamilial errors) and between multiple-birth infants and nonsiblings (extrafamilial errors). They found that multiple-birth status in the NICU is associated with significantly increased risk of wrong-patient orders compared with singleton-birth status. Strategies to reduce this risk include using given names at birth, changing from temporary to given names when available, and encouraging parents to select names for multiple births before they are born when acceptable to families.
AHRQ-funded; HS024538.
Citation: Adelman JS, Applebaum JR, Southern WN .
Risk of wrong-patient orders among multiple vs singleton births in the neonatal intensive care units of 2 integrated health care systems.
JAMA Pediatr 2019 Oct 10;173(10):979-85. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.2733..
Keywords: Newborns/Infants, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events, Medication: Safety, Medication, Patient Safety, Electronic Prescribing (E-Prescribing), Health Information Technology (HIT)
Mixon AS, Kripalani S, Stein J
An on-treatment analysis of the MARQUIS study: interventions to improve inpatient medication reconciliation.
This paper examined evidence-based interventions implemented in five US hospitals to improve inpatient medication reconciliation. The sites implemented one to seven interventions in 791 patients during a 25-month implementation period. Three interventions were associated with significant decreases in potentially harmful reconciliation rates while two interventions were associated with significant increases. The positive interventions included: defining clinical roles and responsibilities, training, and hiring staff to perform discharge medication reconciliation. The negative interventions were training staff to take medication histories and implementing a new electronic health record (EHR) system.
AHRQ-funded; HS019598.
Citation: Mixon AS, Kripalani S, Stein J .
An on-treatment analysis of the MARQUIS study: interventions to improve inpatient medication reconciliation.
J Hosp Med 2019 Oct;14(10):614-17. doi: 10.12788/jhm.3308..
Keywords: Medication, Evidence-Based Practice, Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events, Medical Errors, Patient Safety, Hospitals, Healthcare Delivery, Inpatient Care
Angraal S, Nuti SV, Masoudi FA
Digoxin use and associated adverse events among older adults.
The authors describe national-level trends of digoxin use, hospitalizations for toxicity, and subsequent outcomes over the past two decades. They found that, while digoxin prescriptions have decreased, the drug is still widely prescribed. However, the rate of hospitalizations for digoxin toxicity and adverse outcomes associated with these hospitalizations have decreased. They concluded that these findings reflect the changing clinical practice of digoxin use, aligned with the changes in clinical guidelines.
AHRQ-funded; HS025164; HS025402; HS025517.
Citation: Angraal S, Nuti SV, Masoudi FA .
Digoxin use and associated adverse events among older adults.
Am J Med 2019 Oct;132(10):1191-98. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2019.04.022.
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Keywords: Medication, Elderly, Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events, Patient Safety, Heart Disease and Health, Cardiovascular Conditions, Hospitalization, Practice Patterns
Nothelle SK, Sharma R, Oakes A
Factors associated with potentially inappropriate medication use in community-dwelling older adults in the United States: a systematic review.
Potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in older adults is a prevalent problem associated with poor health outcomes. Understanding drivers of PIM use is essential for targeting interventions. This study systematically reviewed the literature about the patient, clinician and environmental/system factors associated with PIM use in community-dwelling older adults in the United States. The investigators concluded that amongst older adults, women and persons on more medications were at higher risk of PIM use. There was evidence that increased healthcare use was also associated with PIM use.
AHRQ-funded; HS000029.
Citation: Nothelle SK, Sharma R, Oakes A .
Factors associated with potentially inappropriate medication use in community-dwelling older adults in the United States: a systematic review.
Int J Pharm Pract 2019 Oct;27(5):408-23. doi: 10.1111/ijpp.12541..
Keywords: Medication, Elderly, Patient Safety
Mixon AS, Smith GR, Mallouk M
Design of MARQUIS2: study protocol for a mentored implementation study of an evidence-based toolkit to improve patient safety through medication reconciliation.
The first Multi-center Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study (MARQUIS1) demonstrated that implementation of a medication reconciliation best practices toolkit decreased total unintentional medication discrepancies in five hospitals. In this study, the investigators sought to implement the MARQUIS toolkit in more diverse hospitals, incorporating lessons learned from MARQUIS1.
AHRQ-funded; HS023757; HS025486.
Citation: Mixon AS, Smith GR, Mallouk M .
Design of MARQUIS2: study protocol for a mentored implementation study of an evidence-based toolkit to improve patient safety through medication reconciliation.
BMC Health Serv Res 2019 Sep 11;19(1):659. doi: 10.1186/s12913-019-4491-5.
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Keywords: Evidence-Based Practice, Medication, Patient Safety, Quality of Care, Quality Improvement, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Tools & Toolkits
McCarthy DM, Russell AM , Effler MR
Implementation fidelity of patient-centered prescription label to promote opioid safe use.
The authors assessed implementation of a patient-centered "PRN" (as needed) label entitled "Take-Wait-Stop" (TWS) with three deconstructed steps replacing traditional wording. They found that exact intervention adherence was not achieved in the majority of cases, limiting impact, but that community pharmacies were responsive to new instructions, with higher implementation reliability requiring additional supports.
AHRQ-funded; HS023459.
Citation: McCarthy DM, Russell AM , Effler MR .
Implementation fidelity of patient-centered prescription label to promote opioid safe use.
Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2019 Sep;28(9):1251-57. doi: 10.1002/pds.4795..
Keywords: Opioids, Patient Safety, Health Literacy, Medication, Provider: Pharmacist, Provider
Nguyen BP, Reese T, Decker S
Implementation of clinical decision support services to detect potential drug-drug interaction using clinical quality language.
The authors report on the implementation and evaluation of CDS Services which represent potential drug-drug interactions knowledge with Clinical Quality Language (CQL). Their suggested solution is based on emerging standards including CDS Hooks, FHIR, and CQL. They selected two use cases, implemented them with CQL rules, and tested them.
AHRQ-funded; HS023826; HS025984.
Citation: Nguyen BP, Reese T, Decker S .
Implementation of clinical decision support services to detect potential drug-drug interaction using clinical quality language.
Stud Health Technol Inform 2019 Aug 21;264:724-28. doi: 10.3233/shti190318..
Keywords: Clinical Decision Support (CDS), Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Medication, Adverse Events, Patient Safety, Health Information Technology (HIT)
Yao B, Kang H, Gong Y
Data quality assessment of narrative medication error reports.
This study examined the data quality of patient safety event (PSE) reports that are used to analyze the root causes of PSE. If the data quality is poor then the reporting and root cause analysis (RCA) will also be poor. Incomplete or missing data is the most prevalent problem in these reports. The researchers used an adapted taxonomy to assess the data quality of PSE reports, and extracted sample reports based on eight error types. The extracts were scored by experts. They found that most structured fields were ignored by reporters, but the narrative parts of the reports contained rich and valuable information. The results show that the adapted taxonomy could be a promising tool for report quality assessment and improvement.
AHRQ-funded; HS022895.
Citation: Yao B, Kang H, Gong Y .
Data quality assessment of narrative medication error reports.
Stud Health Technol Inform 2019 Aug 9;265:101-06. doi: 10.3233/shti190146..
Keywords: Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Medication, Medical Errors, Adverse Events, Data, Patient Safety
Anderson DJ, Watson S, Moehring RW
Feasibility of core antimicrobial stewardship interventions in community hospitals.
The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and results of implementing 2 core stewardship intervention strategies in community hospitals. The two antimicrobial stewardship strategies targeted vancomycin hydrochloride, piperacillin-tazobactam, and the antipseudomonal carbapenems on formulary at the study hospitals: (1) modified preauthorization (PA), in which the prescriber had to receive pharmacist approval for continued use of the antibiotic after the first dose, and (2) postprescription audit and review (PPR), in which the pharmacist would engage the prescriber about antibiotic appropriateness after 72 hours of therapy.
AHRQ-funded; HS023866.
Citation: Anderson DJ, Watson S, Moehring RW .
Feasibility of core antimicrobial stewardship interventions in community hospitals.
The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and results of implementing 2 core stewardship intervention strategies in community hospitals. The two antimicrobial stewardship strategies targeted vancomycin hydrochloride, piperacillin-tazobactam, and the antipseudomonal carbapenems on formulary at the study hospitals: (1) modified preauthorization (PA), in which the prescriber had to receive pharmacist approval for continued use of the antibiotic after the first dose, and (2) postprescription audit and review (PPR), in which the pharmacist would engage the prescriber about antibiotic appropriateness after 72 hours of therapy..
Keywords: Antibiotics, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), Hospitals, Infectious Diseases, Medication, Patient Safety
Sobieraj DM, Martinez BK, Hernandez AV
Adverse effects of pharmacologic treatments of major depression in older adults.
The objective of this study was to assess adverse effects of pharmacologic antidepressants for treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adults 65 years of age or older. The investigators found, among other conclusions, that in patients 65 years of age or older with MDD, treatment of the acute phase of MDD with serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), but not selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), was associated with a statistically greater number of overall adverse events vs placebo.
AHRQ-funded; 290201500012I.
Citation: Sobieraj DM, Martinez BK, Hernandez AV .
Adverse effects of pharmacologic treatments of major depression in older adults.
J Am Geriatr Soc 2019 Aug;67(8):1571-81. doi: 10.1111/jgs.15966..
Keywords: Depression, Behavioral Health, Medication: Safety, Medication, Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events, Patient Safety, Elderly
Auger KA, Shah SS, Davis MM
Counting the ways to count medications: the challenges of defining pediatric polypharmacy.
Polypharmacy, the practice of taking multiple medications to manage health conditions, is common for children. Polypharmacy has been linked to a variety of pediatric and adult outcomes, including medication errors and readmission. In this paper, the authors sought consensus on how to count discharge medications through a series of informal interviews with hospitalists, nurses, and parents.
AHRQ-funded; HS024735.
Citation: Auger KA, Shah SS, Davis MM .
Counting the ways to count medications: the challenges of defining pediatric polypharmacy.
J Hosp Med 2019 Aug;14(8):506-07. doi: 10.12788/jhm.3213..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Medication, Medication: Safety, Patient Safety, Hospital Discharge, Hospitals
Wyatt DL
AHRQ Author: Wyatt DL
Employing technology to make care transitions safer.
This commentary discusses the potential for errors in patient handoffs; important information about medications and instructions regarding patient care may be overlooked when the patient is referred to special care, moved to a new hospital setting, or discharged. The problem is especially acute for patients with multiple chronic conditions who often undergo frequent transitions to new care settings and healthcare providers. The author describes AHRQ’s funding opportunities for health information technology interventions that aim to improve communication and coordination during care transitions, such as location-based smartphone alerts, a patient-centered discharge toolkit, and a ‘smart pillbox’ electronic medication adherence reporting project.
AHRQ-authored.
Citation: Wyatt DL .
Employing technology to make care transitions safer.
J Nurs Care Qual 2019 Jul/Sep;34(3):185-88. doi: 10.1097/ncq.0000000000000417..
Keywords: Adverse Events, Care Coordination, Chronic Conditions, Communication, Health Information Technology (HIT), Healthcare Delivery, Hospital Discharge, Medical Errors, Medication, Patient Safety, Transitions of Care
Grant MC, Gibbons M M, Ko CY
Evidence review conducted for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery: focus on anesthesiology for bariatric surgery.
The authors conducted an evidence review to select anesthetic interventions that positively influence outcomes and facilitate recovery after bariatric surgery. They summarize the best available evidence to recommend the anesthetic components of care for enhanced recovery after bariatric surgery. The concluded that there is evidence in the literature, and from society guidelines, to support AHRQ’s Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery goals for bariatric surgery.
AHRQ-funded; 233201500020I.
Citation: Grant MC, Gibbons M M, Ko CY .
Evidence review conducted for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery: focus on anesthesiology for bariatric surgery.
Anesth Analg 2019 Jul;129(1):51-60. doi: 10.1213/ane.0000000000003696..
Keywords: Evidence-Based Practice, Medication, Obesity, Outcomes, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, Surgery