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AHRQ Research Studies Date
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- Adverse Events (2)
- Antibiotics (1)
- Children/Adolescents (4)
- (-) Critical Care (11)
- Diagnostic Safety and Quality (2)
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- Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (6)
- Medical Errors (1)
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- Newborns/Infants (4)
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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 11 of 11 Research Studies DisplayedFlannery DD, Zevallos Barboza A, Mukhopadhyay S
Antibiotic use among infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units.
The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine antibiotic exposure, days of therapy, types of antibiotics, and changes in use patterns among newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across the U.S. Data for almost 1.4 million infants were taken from the Premier Healthcare Database. The most common antibiotics prescribed during the study period were ampicillin, gentamicin, vancomycin, and cefotaxime. Antibiotic use declined substantially over time, primarily because of reductions in ampicillin and gentamicin. The authors noted that these findings probably reflect the penetration of national calls for neonatal antibiotic stewardship efforts and refined early-onset infection risk-assessment strategies; shortage and subsequent discontinuation of cefotaxime may have played a role in the sharp decline in its use and the related increase in ceftazidime use.
AHRQ-funded; HS027468.
Citation: Flannery DD, Zevallos Barboza A, Mukhopadhyay S .
Antibiotic use among infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units.
JAMA Pediatr 2023 Dec; 177(12):1354-56. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.3664..
Keywords: Newborns/Infants, Antibiotics, Medication, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Critical Care
Eaton TL, Lincoln TE, Lewis A
Palliative care in survivors of critical illness: a qualitative study of post-intensive care unit program clinicians.
This paper’s goal was to understand beliefs, attitudes, and experiences of post-intensive care unit (ICU) program clinicians regarding palliative care and to explore barriers and facilitators to incorporating palliative care into critical illness survivorship care. The authors conducted semistructured interviews with 29 international members (United States, United Kingdom, Canada) of the Critical and Acute Illness Recovery Organization post-ICU clinic collaborative. All clinicians described components of palliative care as essential to post-ICU clinic practice, including symptom management, patient/family support, facilitation of goal-concordant care, expectation management and anticipatory guidance, spiritual support, and discussion of future health care wishes and advance care planning. These clinician-level facilitators promoted palliative care strategies including first-hand experience, perceived value, and a positive attitude regarding palliative care. Clinician-level barriers discussed included insufficient palliative care knowledge, lack of self-efficacy, and a perceived need to protect ICU survivors from interventions the clinician felt may adversely affect recovery or change the care trajectory. System-level barriers mentioned were time constraints, cost, and lack of specialty palliative care services.
AHRQ-funded; HS027210.
Citation: Eaton TL, Lincoln TE, Lewis A .
Palliative care in survivors of critical illness: a qualitative study of post-intensive care unit program clinicians.
J Palliat Med 2023 Dec; 26(12):1644-53. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2023.0034..
Keywords: Palliative Care, Critical Care
Cifra CL, Custer JW, Smith CM
Prevalence and characteristics of diagnostic error in pediatric critical care: a multicenter study.
This study’s objective was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of diagnostic errors and identify factors associated with error in patients admitted to the PICU. This multicenter cohort study used structured medical record review by trained clinicians using the Revised Safer Dx instrument to identify diagnostic error (defined as missed opportunities in diagnosis). The cohort included 882 randomly selected patients 0-18 years old who were nonelectively admitted to participating PICUs. Of these admissions, 13 (1.5%) had a diagnostic error up to 7 days after PICU admission, with infections (46%) and respiratory conditions (23%) being the most missed diagnoses. One diagnostic error caused a prolonged hospital stay. Common missed diagnostic opportunities included failure to consider the diagnosis despite a suggestive history and failure to broaden diagnostic testing, both at 69%. Unadjusted analysis identified more diagnostic errors in patients with atypical presentations (23.1% vs 3.6%), neurologic chief complaints (46.2% vs 18.8%), admitting intensivists greater than or equal to 45 years old (92.3% vs 65.1%), admitting intensivists with more service weeks/year (mean 12.8 vs 10.9 weeks), and diagnostic uncertainty on admission (77% vs 25.1%). Generalized linear mixed models determined that atypical presentation (odds ratio [OR] 4.58) and diagnostic uncertainty on admission (OR 9.67) were significantly associated with diagnostic error.
AHRQ-funded; HS026965.
Citation: Cifra CL, Custer JW, Smith CM .
Prevalence and characteristics of diagnostic error in pediatric critical care: a multicenter study.
Crit Care Med 2023 Nov; 51(11):1492-501. doi: 10.1097/ccm.0000000000005942..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Critical Care, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Medical Errors, Patient Safety
Woods-Hill CZ, Koontz DW, Colantuoni EA
Sustainability of the Bright STAR diagnostic stewardship program to reduce blood culture rates among critically ill children.
From 2017 to2020, 14 pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) participated in the Bright STAR (Testing Stewardship for Antibiotic Reduction) QI collaborative to reduce unnecessary blood cultures for PICU patients. The collaborative project found that 4 sites demonstrated a 33% decrease in blood culture rates and a 13% decrease in broad spectrum antibiotic use. The purpose of this current study was to assess whether sites sustained reduced blood culture rates after completion of the formal project. The study found that all sites had lower blood culture rates during the sustainability period when compared with the pre-implementation period. The blood culture rate increased 8% during the sustainability period compared with the postimplementation period but was 27% lower than during the pre-implementation period.
AHRQ-funded; HS025642.
Citation: Woods-Hill CZ, Koontz DW, Colantuoni EA .
Sustainability of the Bright STAR diagnostic stewardship program to reduce blood culture rates among critically ill children.
JAMA Pediatr 2023 Nov; 177(11):1234-37. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.3229..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Critical Care, Quality Improvement, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Quality of Care
Sikora A, Jeong H, Yu M
Cluster analysis driven by unsupervised latent feature learning of medications to identify novel pharmacophenotypes of critically ill patients.
This study used a machine learning approach (Restricted Boltzmann Machine) to perform an unsupervised analysis of 991 medication profiles of patients managed in the intensive care unit (ICU) to explore pharmacophenotypes that correlated with ICU complications (e.g., mechanical ventilation) and patient-centered outcomes (e.g., length of stay, mortality). The authors observed six unique pharmacophenotypes, with unique medication profiles and clinically relevant differences in ICU complications and patient-centered outcomes. While pharmacophenotypes 2 and 4 had no statistically significant difference in ICU length of stay, duration of mechanical ventilation, or duration of vasopressor use, their mortality differed significantly (9.0% vs. 21.9%). All but pharmacophenotype 4 had a mortality rate ranging from 2.5 to 9%. This approach has shown promise in classifying the heterogenous syndromes of critical illness to predict treatment response and guide clinical decision support systems but have never included comprehensive medication information.
AHRQ-funded; HS028485.
Citation: Sikora A, Jeong H, Yu M .
Cluster analysis driven by unsupervised latent feature learning of medications to identify novel pharmacophenotypes of critically ill patients.
Sci Rep 2023 Sep 20; 13(1):15562. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-42657-2..
Keywords: Medication, Critical Care
Karvonen KL, Anunwah E, Chambers Butcher BD
Structural racism operationalized via adverse social events in a single-center neonatal intensive care unit.
The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to assess structural racism in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) by establishing whether variations in adverse social events occur by racialized groups. The study included 3,290 infants hospitalized in a single center NICU in the Racial and Ethnic Justice in Outcomes in Neonatal Intensive Care (REJOICE) study, and researchers included demographics and adverse social events including infant urine toxicology screening, child protective services (CPS) referrals, behavioral contracts, and security emergency response calls were collected from electronic medical records. The study found that 6.2% of families experienced an adverse social event. Black families had a greater likelihood of having experienced a CPS referral and a urine toxicology screen. American Indian and Alaskan Native families also had a greater likelihood of experiencing CPS referrals and urine toxicology screens. Black families had a greater likelihood of experiencing behavioral contracts and security emergency response calls. Latinx families had a similar risk of adverse events, and Asian families were less likely to experience adverse events.
AHRQ-funded; HS028473; HS026383.
Citation: Karvonen KL, Anunwah E, Chambers Butcher BD .
Structural racism operationalized via adverse social events in a single-center neonatal intensive care unit.
J Pediatr 2023 Sep; 260:113499. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113499..
Keywords: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Newborns/Infants, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Critical Care
Lenz KB, Nishisaki A, Lindell RB
Peri-intubation adverse events in the critically ill child after hematopoietic cell transplant.
The goal of this study was to investigate whether adverse peri-intubation associated events occur at increased frequency in pediatric patients with hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) compared with non-HCT oncologic or other pediatric ICU (PICU) patients and therefore might contribute to increased mortality. This retrospective cohort study of critically ill children who underwent tracheal intubation (TI) was conducted between 2014 and 2019. Data was merged from local airway management quality databases and Virtual Pediatric Systems. Data was supplemented with a retrospective chart review for HCT-related data, including HCT indication, transplant-related comorbidity status, and patient condition at the time of TI procedure. There was a total of 1,931 children identified who underwent TI, of which 92 (4.8%) were post-HCT, while 319 (16.5%) had history of malignancy without HCT, and 1,520 (78.7%) had neither HCT nor malignancy. Children post-HCT were older, more often had respiratory failure, use of catecholamine infusions peri-intubation, and use of noninvasive ventilation prior to intubation. There was no difference in hemodynamic tracheal intubation-associated adverse events (TIAEs) or peri-intubation hypoxemia across three groups (HCT 16%, non-HCT with malignancy 10%, other 15%). The authors did not find an association between HCT status and the adverse TI outcome after adjusting for age, difficulty airway feature, provider type, device, apneic oxygenation use, and indication for intubation.
AHRQ-funded; HS024511.
Citation: Lenz KB, Nishisaki A, Lindell RB .
Peri-intubation adverse events in the critically ill child after hematopoietic cell transplant.
Pediatr Crit Care Med 2023 Jul; 24(7):584-93. doi: 10.1097/pcc.0000000000003243..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Critical Care, Adverse Events
Herrick HM, O'Reilly M, Lee S
Providing Oxygen during Intubation in the NICU Trial (POINT): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial in the neonatal intensive care unit in the USA.
This article is a study protocol describing a pilot randomized controlled trial called Providing Oxygen during Intubation in the NICU Trial or POINT. This study’s objective will be to determine among infants ≥28 weeks' corrected gestational age (cGA) who undergo intubation in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) whether apnoeic oxygenation with a regular low-flow nasal cannula (NC), compared with standard of care (no additional respiratory support), reduces the magnitude of SpO(2) decline during intubation. This severe desaturation occurs in nearly half of neonatal intubations. This multicenter, prospective, unblinded, pilot randomized controlled trial recruited 120 infants, 10 in the run-in phase, and 110 in the randomization phase at two tertiary care hospitals in Pennsylvania. Patients will be randomized to 6 L NC 100% oxygen versus standard of care (no respiratory support) at time of intubation, with primary outcome the magnitude of oxygen desaturation during intubation. Secondary outcomes will include additional efficacy, safety, and feasibility outcomes.
AHRQ-funded; HS029029.
Citation: Herrick HM, O'Reilly M, Lee S .
Providing Oxygen during Intubation in the NICU Trial (POINT): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial in the neonatal intensive care unit in the USA.
BMJ Open 2023 Apr 13; 13(4):e073400. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073400..
Keywords: Newborns/Infants, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Critical Care
Kempker JA, Stearns E, Peterson EN
U.S. adult critical care beds per capita: a 2021 county-level cross-sectional study.
This study used November 2021 hospital data from the Department of Health and Human Services' Protect Public Data Hub to describe the per capita distribution of staffed adult critical care beds across the US. There was a high percentage of hospitals reporting (98.6%). A total of 4,846 adult hospitals accounted for 79,876 adult critical care beds in the US and its’ territories. The authors crudely aggregated the data at the national-level to 0.31 adult critical care beds per 1,000 adults. The median crude per capita density of adult critical care beds per 1,000 adults across U.S. counties was 0.00 per 1,000 adults. Spatially smoothed county-level estimates were obtained using Empirical Bayes and Spatial Empirical Bayes approaches, resulting in an estimated 0.18 adult critical care beds per 1,000 adults. Counties in the upper quartile had higher average adult population counts (mean 159,000 vs 32,000 adults per county) compared to counties in the lower quartile of adult critical care bed density.
AHRQ-funded; HS025240.
Citation: Kempker JA, Stearns E, Peterson EN .
U.S. adult critical care beds per capita: a 2021 county-level cross-sectional study.
Crit Care Explor 2023 Mar;5(3):e0868. doi: 10.1097/cce.0000000000000868.
Keywords: Critical Care, Public Health
Napolitano N, Polikoff L, Edwards L
Effect of apneic oxygenation with intubation to reduce severe desaturation and adverse tracheal intubation-associated events in critically ill children.
This study’s goal was to determine if apneic oxygenation (AO) delivered via nasal cannula during the apneic phase of tracheal intubation (TI) reduces adverse TI-associated events (TIAEs) in children. AO was implemented at 14 pediatric intensive care units as a quality improvement intervention from 2016 through 2020. Implementation consisted of an intubation safety checklist, leadership endorsement, use of a local champion, and data feedback to frontline clinicians. Of 6549 TIs during the study period, 2554 occurred during the pre-implementation phase and 3995 during post-implementation phase. AO utilization increased from 23 to 68%. It was utilized less often when intubating infants, those with a primary cardiac diagnosis or difficult airway features, and patients intubated due to respiratory or neurological failure or shock. Conversely, it was used more often in TIs done for procedures or those associated by video laryngoscopy. AO utilization was associated with a lower incidence of adverse TIAEs (AO 10.5% vs. without AO 13.5%). However, after further adjusting for patient and provider characteristics (secondary analysis), AO utilization was not independently associated with the occurrence of adverse TIAEs, and the occurrence of hypoxemia was not different (AO 14.2% versus without AO 15.2%).
AHRQ-funded; HS024511.
Citation: Napolitano N, Polikoff L, Edwards L .
Effect of apneic oxygenation with intubation to reduce severe desaturation and adverse tracheal intubation-associated events in critically ill children.
Crit Care 2023 Jan 17; 27(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s13054-023-04304-0..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Critical Care, Adverse Events, Respiratory Conditions
Doherty JR, Schaefer A, Goodman DC
Texas hospital's perspectives about NICU performance measures: a mixed-methods study.
This exploratory mixed-methods study was conducted to determine Texas hospital leaders’ perspectives about neonatal intensive care (NICU) performance measures. First a survey was sent along with a copy of the Dartmouth Atlas of Neonatal Intensive Care to clinical and administrative leaders of 150 NICUs in Texas. The authors asked respondents to review the chapter that reported Texas-specific results and respond to a variety of open and closed-ended questions about the overall usefulness of the report. Secondly, they conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with a subset of survey respondents to better understand their perspectives. There was a 50% survey response rate. Respondents generally found the report to be interesting and useful, and 87.7% of all respondents reported being in favor of receiving future reports with their own hospital's data benchmarked against other anonymous NICU peers. All measures in the Atlas were considered favorably. The respondents also felt that a report with performance data would serve as a mechanism to drive change by identifying opportunities for improvement.
AHRQ-funded; HS024075.
Citation: Doherty JR, Schaefer A, Goodman DC .
Texas hospital's perspectives about NICU performance measures: a mixed-methods study.
Qual Manag Health Care 2023 Jan-Mar;32(1):8-15. doi: 10.1097/qmh.0000000000000347..
Keywords: Newborns/Infants, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Critical Care, Provider Performance, Hospitals