National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
Latest available findings on quality of and access to health care
Data
- Data Infographics
- Data Visualizations
- Data Tools
- Data Innovations
- All-Payer Claims Database
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)
- Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
- AHRQ Quality Indicator Tools for Data Analytics
- State Snapshots
- United States Health Information Knowledgebase (USHIK)
- Data Sources Available from AHRQ
Search All Research Studies
AHRQ Research Studies Date
Topics
- Adverse Events (1)
- Burnout (2)
- Cardiovascular Conditions (1)
- Children/Adolescents (1)
- Clinical Decision Support (CDS) (1)
- Communication (1)
- Critical Care (1)
- Diagnostic Safety and Quality (1)
- Education: Continuing Medical Education (1)
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs) (2)
- Emergency Department (4)
- Emergency Medical Services (EMS) (1)
- Genetics (1)
- Health Information Exchange (HIE) (1)
- Health Information Technology (HIT) (4)
- Hospitals (1)
- Inpatient Care (1)
- Medication (1)
- Nursing (4)
- Organizational Change (2)
- Patient Safety (5)
- Primary Care (2)
- Primary Care: Models of Care (1)
- Provider (5)
- Provider: Nurse (3)
- Provider: Physician (3)
- Quality Improvement (2)
- Quality of Care (2)
- Shared Decision Making (1)
- Stress (1)
- Surgery (1)
- Teams (1)
- Training (1)
- (-) Workflow (15)
AHRQ Research Studies
Sign up: AHRQ Research Studies Email updates
Research Studies is a compilation of published research articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers.
Results
1 to 15 of 15 Research Studies DisplayedRosen MA, Dietz AS, Lee N
Sensor-based measurement of critical care nursing workload: Unobtrusive measures of nursing activity complement traditional task and patient level indicators of workload to predict perceived exertion.
The purpose of this study was to establish the validity of sensor-based measures of work processes for predicting perceived mental and physical exertion of critical care nurses. Environmental sensors worn by staff in a surgical intensive care unit captured work process data. Nurses rated their mental and physical exertion for each four-hour block, and recorded patient and staffing-level workload factors. Analysis of this data yielded highly predictive models of critical care nursing workload to generate insights into workflow and work design. The researchers conclude that sensor-based measures are a viable complement to traditional task demand measures of workload.
AHRQ-funded; HS023553.
Citation: Rosen MA, Dietz AS, Lee N .
Sensor-based measurement of critical care nursing workload: Unobtrusive measures of nursing activity complement traditional task and patient level indicators of workload to predict perceived exertion.
PLoS One 2018 Oct 12;13(10):e0204819. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204819..
Keywords: Critical Care, Nursing, Provider: Nurse, Patient Safety, Workflow
Fong A, Ratwani RM
Understanding emergency medicine physicians multitasking behaviors around interruptions.
Interruptions can adversely impact human performance, particularly in fast-paced and high-risk environments such as the emergency department (ED). In this paper, the investigators present a comprehensive framework for understanding interruptions that is composed of three phases, each with multiple levels: interruption start transition, interruption engagement, and interruption end transition. This three-phase framework is not constrained to discrete task transitions, providing a robust method to categorize multitasking behaviors around interruptions. They apply this framework in categorizing 457 interruption episodes.
AHRQ-funded; HS022362.
Citation: Fong A, Ratwani RM .
Understanding emergency medicine physicians multitasking behaviors around interruptions.
Acad Emerg Med 2018 Oct;25(10):1164-68. doi: 10.1111/acem.13496..
Keywords: Emergency Department, Workflow, Patient Safety, Provider: Physician, Provider
Fong A, Kim TC, Ratwani RM
Task2Heart: exploring heart rate differences with time-motion workflow observations of emergency medicine physicians.
This paper presents Task2Heart, a system developed to integrate near real-time heart rate with in-situ time motion observations. The authors describe and validate the system and discuss its use in the exploration of emergency physician heart rate in-situ.
AHRQ-funded; HS024801.
Citation: Fong A, Kim TC, Ratwani RM .
Task2Heart: exploring heart rate differences with time-motion workflow observations of emergency medicine physicians.
J Med Syst 2018 Aug 7;42(9):170. doi: 10.1007/s10916-018-1024-4..
Keywords: Cardiovascular Conditions, Emergency Department, Workflow, Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Denton CA, Soni HC, Kannampallil TG
Emergency physicians' perceived influence of EHR use on clinical workflow and performance metrics.
In this article, the authors investigated the perceived effects of electronic health record (EHR) use on clinical workflow and meaningful use (MU) performance metrics. The investigators concluded that physicians' perception of EHRs was likely to influence their practices. They suggested that with negative perceptions of EHR usability problems, positive aspects of EHR use, including the influence on MU performance metrics, may be overridden.
AHRQ-funded; HS022670.
Citation: Denton CA, Soni HC, Kannampallil TG .
Emergency physicians' perceived influence of EHR use on clinical workflow and performance metrics.
Appl Clin Inform 2018 Jul;9(3):725-33. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1668553..
Keywords: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Emergency Department, Health Information Technology (HIT), Workflow, Provider: Physician, Provider
Cummins MR, Ranade-Kharkar P, Johansen C
Simple workflow changes enable effective patient identity matching in poison control.
In this study, to increase the documentation of patient identifiers by the Utah Poison Control Center (PCC), the authors (1) adapted documentation practices to enable more complete and consistent documentation, and (2) implemented staff training to improve collection of identifiers. The investigators found that compared with the same time period in 2016, the Utah PCC showed an increase of 27% (p < 0.001) in collection of birth date for cases referred to a health care facility, while improvements in the collection of other identifiers ranged from 0 to 8%.
AHRQ-funded; HS021472.
Citation: Cummins MR, Ranade-Kharkar P, Johansen C .
Simple workflow changes enable effective patient identity matching in poison control.
Appl Clin Inform 2018 Jul;9(3):553-57. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1667000..
Keywords: Workflow, Health Information Exchange (HIE)
Bayramzadeh S, Joseph A, San D
The impact of operating room layout on circulating nurse's work patterns and flow disruptions: a behavioral mapping study.
The purpose of this study was to assess how the adjacencies of functionally different areas within operating rooms (ORs) can influence the circulating nurse's (CN) workflow patterns and disruptions. The investigators video recorded and thematically coded a convenience sample of 25 surgeries for CN's activities, locations, and flow disruptions. The investigators suggest that optimum adjacencies should be considered while designing ORs such that they are more efficient and safer.
AHRQ-funded; HS024380.
Citation: Bayramzadeh S, Joseph A, San D .
The impact of operating room layout on circulating nurse's work patterns and flow disruptions: a behavioral mapping study.
HERD 2018 Jul;11(3):124-38. doi: 10.1177/1937586717751124..
Keywords: Surgery, Workflow, Hospitals, Nursing, Provider: Nurse, Provider, Patient Safety
Hung DY, Harrison MI , Truong Q
AHRQ Author: Harrison MI
Experiences of primary care physicians and staff following lean workflow redesign.
The researchers examined the work experiences of primary care physicians and staff after implementing Lean-based workflow redesigns. They found that both physicians and nonphysician staff reported higher levels of engagement and teamwork after implementing redesigns. However, the subjects also experienced higher levels of burnout and perceptions of the workplace as stressful.
AHRQ-authored; AHRQ-funded; 290201000022I.
Citation: Hung DY, Harrison MI , Truong Q .
Experiences of primary care physicians and staff following lean workflow redesign.
BMC Health Serv Res 2018 Apr 10;18(1):274. doi: 10.1186/s12913-018-3062-5.
.
.
Keywords: Primary Care, Workflow, Burnout, Organizational Change, Provider: Physician, Teams
Blaz JW, Doig AK, Cloyes KG
The symbolic functions of nurses' cognitive artifacts on a medical oncology unit.
Acute care nurses continue to rely on personally created paper-based tools-their "paper brains"-to support work during a shift, although standardized handoff tools are recommended. This interpretive descriptive study examines the functions these paper brains serve beyond handoff in the medical oncology unit at a cancer specialty hospital.
AHRQ-funded; HS022183.
Citation: Blaz JW, Doig AK, Cloyes KG .
The symbolic functions of nurses' cognitive artifacts on a medical oncology unit.
West J Nurs Res 2018 Apr;40(4):520-36. doi: 10.1177/0193945916683683.
.
.
Keywords: Nursing, Provider: Nurse, Provider, Workflow
Vankipuram A, Traub S, Patel VL
A method for the analysis and visualization of clinical workflow in dynamic environments.
The authors present a cohesive framework that combines a set of analytic techniques that can potentially complement traditional human observations to derive a deeper understanding of clinical workflow. Their framework is divided into three modules: (i) transformation, (ii) analysis, and (iii) visualization. They describe the methods used in each of these modules, and provide a series of visualizations developed using location-tracking data collected at the Mayo Clinic ED.
AHRQ-funded; HS022670.
Citation: Vankipuram A, Traub S, Patel VL .
A method for the analysis and visualization of clinical workflow in dynamic environments.
J Biomed Inform 2018 Mar;79:20-31. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2018.01.007.
.
.
Keywords: Emergency Department, Health Information Technology (HIT), Health Information Technology (HIT), Primary Care: Models of Care, Workflow
Borycki E, Senathirajah Y, Kushniruk AW
The future of mobile usability, workflow and safety testing.
In this paper, the authors outline a vision for the future of mobile usability, workflow and safety testing. The authors argue for the use of glasses that can audio and video record usability, workflow and safety data.
AHRQ-funded; HS023708.
Citation: Borycki E, Senathirajah Y, Kushniruk AW .
The future of mobile usability, workflow and safety testing.
Stud Health Technol Inform 2017;245:15-19..
Keywords: Health Information Technology (HIT), Patient Safety, Workflow
Starmer AJ, Destino L, Yoon CS
Intern and resident workflow patterns on pediatric inpatient units: a multicenter time-motion study.
The researchers sought to quantify the proportion of time spent by residents in direct care, indirect care activities, and education across 9 pediatric institutions. They found that across all sites and levels of training, trainees spent more time in interprofessional communication (34.7 percent), and at the computer (20.5 percent), and less time in contact with patients and families (12.0 percent) and in educational activities (4.7 percent).
AHRQ-funded; HS019456.
Citation: Starmer AJ, Destino L, Yoon CS .
Intern and resident workflow patterns on pediatric inpatient units: a multicenter time-motion study.
JAMA Pediatr 2015 Dec;169(12):1175-7. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.2471..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Education: Continuing Medical Education, Inpatient Care, Provider, Training, Workflow
Cutting EM, Overby CL, Banchero M
Using workflow modeling to identify areas to improve genetic test processes in the University of Maryland Translational Pharmacogenomics Project.
The researchers used information gained from focus groups in order to illustrate the current process of delivering genetic test results to clinicians. They proposed a business process model and notation (BPMN) representation of this process for a Translational Pharmacogenomics Project being implemented at the University of Maryland Medical Center. They found that the current process could be improved to reduce input errors, better inform and notify clinicians about the implications of certain genetic tests, and make results more easily understood. They demonstrated theiruse of BPMN to improve this important clinical process for CYP2C19 genetic testing.
AHRQ-funded; HS023390.
Citation: Cutting EM, Overby CL, Banchero M .
Using workflow modeling to identify areas to improve genetic test processes in the University of Maryland Translational Pharmacogenomics Project.
AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2015 Nov 5;2015:466-74.
.
.
Keywords: Genetics, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Medication, Workflow, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Organizational Change
Gephart S, Carrington JM, Finley B
A systematic review of nurses' experiences with unintended consequences when using the electronic health record.
The purpose of this article is to present the state of the science on nurses' experiences with unintended consequences of electronic health records (EHRs). Findings demonstrate that nurses experience changes to workflow, must continually adapt to meet patient's needs in the context of imperfect EHR systems, and have difficulty accessing the information they need to make patient care decisions. Implications for nurse administrators include the need for continual engagement with nurses along the continuum of EHR design, as well as the need to encourage nurses to speak up and acknowledge workflow changes that threaten patient safety or do not support work efficiency.
AHRQ-funded; HS021074.
Citation: Gephart S, Carrington JM, Finley B .
A systematic review of nurses' experiences with unintended consequences when using the electronic health record.
Nurs Adm Q 2015 Oct-Dec;39(4):345-56. doi: 10.1097/naq.0000000000000119.
.
.
Keywords: Adverse Events, Clinical Decision Support (CDS), Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Nursing, Workflow
Linzer M, Poplau S, Grossman E
A cluster randomized trial of interventions to improve work conditions and clinician burnout in primary care: results from the Healthy Work Place (HWP) Study.
This study aimed to assess if improvements in work conditions reduce clinician stress and burnout. It found that burnout was more likely to improve with workflow interventions and with targeted QI projects than in controls. Also, interventions in communication or workflow led to greater improvements in clinician satisfaction.
AHRQ-funded; HS018160.
Citation: Linzer M, Poplau S, Grossman E .
A cluster randomized trial of interventions to improve work conditions and clinician burnout in primary care: results from the Healthy Work Place (HWP) Study.
J Gen Intern Med 2015 Aug;30(8):1105-11. doi: 10.1007/s11606-015-3235-4..
Keywords: Burnout, Stress, Primary Care, Workflow, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Communication
Butler KA, Mercer E, Bahrami A
Model checking for verification of interactive health IT systems.
The authors proposed to formalize the relationship between HIT and the conceptual work that increasingly typifies modern care. They demonstrated the method on a patient contact system to show that model checking is effective for interactive systems and that much of it can be automated.
AHRQ-funded; HS021233.
Citation: Butler KA, Mercer E, Bahrami A .
Model checking for verification of interactive health IT systems.
AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2015;2015:349-58.
.
.
Keywords: Shared Decision Making, Health Information Technology (HIT), Health Information Technology (HIT), Patient Safety, Workflow