AHRQ Announces New Funding Opportunity To Prevent Heart Disease, Stroke

AHRQ Stats

Access more data on this topic in the associated Statistical Brief.

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Announces New Funding Opportunity To Prevent Heart Disease, Stroke.
• Negative Emotional Experiences Impact Clinical Decision-Making, Patient Safety in Emergency Departments.
• Join AHRQ in Observing Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 8-14.
• Join March 5 Webinar To Learn More About AHRQ’s Challenge Competition on Digital Solutions To Support Care Transitions.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Apply by March 20 for AHRQ Summer Intramural Fellowship Program.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Announces New Funding Opportunity To Prevent Heart Disease, Stroke

AHRQ is seeking applications in response to a new funding opportunity announcement to help primary care clinicians reduce patients’ risks of heart disease and stroke. The three-year, $18 million initiative is aimed at helping primary care practices in states with the highest rates of preventable cardiovascular disease events. Grantees will collaborate with state partners that have the resources, skills and commitment to support primary care practice improvement. The funding announcement follows the success of AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW, a grant program that has delivered the latest evidence on heart health to small- and medium-sized primary care practices. Applicants for the new funding should submit letters of intent by April 10 and applications by May 22. Access an AHRQ Views blog post on the initiative. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address and select “AHRQ Views Blog.”

Negative Emotional Experiences Impact Clinical Decision-Making, Patient Safety in Emergency Departments

Two AHRQ-funded studies on emergency department (ED) healthcare providers found that emotional experiences, especially negative ones, can impact patient safety and clinical decision-making. In one study, researchers conducted 86 interviews with ED physicians and nurses who said they responded emotionally to patient, hospital and system-level factors. Some of those clinicians reported trying to limit face-to-face encounters with patients who aroused negative emotions, including bypassing recommended tests in favor of less relevant tests that would quicken patient discharge. In a related study, researchers asked an additional 94 ED providers to write about negative and positive patient encounters, as well as encounters with mental health patients. Providers again reported lower engagement and increased patient safety risks from negative emotional encounters and those with mental health patients. Researchers called for additional studies into the impacts of emotions on patient safety as well as implementation of emotional intelligence training and education for providers. Abstracts of the studies, published in The British Medical Journal: Quality & Safety, can be accessed on PubMed:

•  What do emergency department physicians and nurses feel? A qualitative study of emotions, triggers, regulation strategies, and effects on patient care.
•  Emotionally evocative patients in the emergency department: a mixed methods investigation of providers' reported emotions and implications for patient safety.

Join AHRQ in Observing Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 8-14

Join AHRQ next week in celebrating Patient Safety Awareness Week to raise awareness about the importance of improving safety in healthcare. Beginning Monday, March 9, follow us daily on Twitter @AHRQNews, Facebook and LinkedIn, or participate in these events:

• Monday, March 9, 10 a.m. ET: Join @AHRQNews for a digital media storm.
• Thursday, March 12, noon–1 p.m. ET: Join a Twitter chat on safer care transitions cohosted by AHRQ and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Use hashtag #PSAW20 to join the conversation.

Patient safety is one of AHRQ’s priorities, and the agency has developed many resources and tools to help clinicians, patients and families who work tirelessly to make 21st-century care as safe as possible.

Join March 5 Webinar To Learn More About AHRQ’s Challenge Competition on Digital Solutions To Support Care Transitions

A webinar on March 5 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. ET will provide information and answer questions about AHRQ’s Digital Solutions to Support Care Transitions Challenge. The goal of the challenge is to develop interoperable health information technology solutions that engage patients and family caregivers during care transitions from inpatient hospital care to home, especially among people with low health literacy or limited English language proficiency. Access information about joining the webinar and a video about the challenge from Director Gopal Khanna, M.B.A.

Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network

AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include:

• Clinician-directed performance improvement: moving beyond externally mandated metrics.
• Medication-related harm in older adults following hospital discharge: development and validation of a prediction tool.
• Moving from knowledge to action: improving safety and quality of care for patients with limited English proficiency.

Review additional new publications in PSNet’s current issue or access recent cases and commentaries in AHRQ’s WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web).

Apply by March 20 for AHRQ Summer Intramural Fellowship Program

Applications will be accepted until March 20 for AHRQ’s 2020 Summer Intramural Fellowship Program. The program allows fellows to work with leading health services researchers in support of research on “real-life” issues that support the agency’s mission and contribute to improvements in healthcare. Fellows are also able to work with administrative protocols, gain access to AHRQ-sponsored datasets and apply statistical analysis methods to broaden understanding of health services research. Learn more about the application process, specific research topics and compensation.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Factors mediating demographic determinants of injury mortality. Jarman MP, Pollack Porter K, Curriero FC, et al. Ann Epidemiol 2019 Jun;34:58-64.e2. Epub 2019 Apr 4. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Association between state-mandated protocolized sepsis care and in-hospital mortality among adults with sepsis. Kahn JM, Davis BS, Yabes JG, et al. JAMA 2019 Jul 16;322(3):240-50. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Policy changes key to promoting sustainability and growth of the specialty palliative care workforce. Kamal AH, Wolf SP, Troy J, et al. Health Aff 2019 Jun;38(6):910-8. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Continuing patient care during electronic health record downtime. Larsen E, Hoffman D, Rivera C, et al. Appl Clin Inform 2019 May;10(3):495-504. Epub 2019 Jul 10. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Interhospital transfers with wide variability in emergency general surgery. Lauerman MH, Herrera AV, Albrecht JS, et al. Am Surg 2019 Jun 1;85(6):595-600. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Gastrostomy tube use in the critically ill, 1994-2014. Law AC, Stevens JP, Walkey AJ. Ann Am Thorac Soc 2019 Jun;16(6):724-30. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

HIV-related stigma and viral suppression among African-American women: exploring the mediating roles of depression and ART nonadherence. Lipira L, Williams EC, Huh D, et al. AIDS Behav 2019 Aug;23(8):2025-36. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Contextual barriers to communication between physicians and nurses about appropriate catheter use. Manojlovich M, Ameling JM, Forman J, et al. Am J Crit Care 2019 Jul;28(4):290-8. Access the abstract on PubMed®.