National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
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AHRQ Research Studies Date
Topics
- Access to Care (1)
- Adverse Drug Events (ADE) (1)
- Adverse Events (1)
- Antibiotics (1)
- Antimicrobial Stewardship (1)
- Children/Adolescents (1)
- Communication (1)
- (-) Critical Care (12)
- Diagnostic Safety and Quality (1)
- Education: Continuing Medical Education (1)
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs) (1)
- Emergency Department (1)
- Emergency Medical Services (EMS) (1)
- Healthcare Costs (1)
- Healthcare Utilization (1)
- Health Information Technology (HIT) (2)
- Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (6)
- Medical Errors (1)
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) (1)
- Newborns/Infants (1)
- Outcomes (1)
- Patient and Family Engagement (1)
- Patient Safety (4)
- Provider Performance (2)
- Quality of Care (2)
- (-) Shared Decision Making (12)
- Simulation (2)
- Teams (1)
- Training (2)
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 12 of 12 Research Studies DisplayedViglianti EM, Ervin JN, Newton CA
Time-limited trials in the ICU: a mixed-methods sequential explanatory study of intensivists at two academic centres.
Investigators sought to understand intensivist perceptions of the appropriateness of time-limited trials (TLTs), a strategy to align life-sustaining care with patient goals and values in the midst of clinical uncertainty. They conducted semi-structured interviews with intensivists, revealing that having clarity about patient goals and clinical endpoints facilitated successful TLTs while lack of an evidenced-based framework was a barrier. More than half of the physicians who responded had conducted or participated in a TLT.
AHRQ-funded; HS028038.
Citation: Viglianti EM, Ervin JN, Newton CA .
Time-limited trials in the ICU: a mixed-methods sequential explanatory study of intensivists at two academic centres.
BMJ Open 2022 Apr 4;12(4):e059325. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059325..
Keywords: Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Critical Care, Shared Decision Making
Murray DJ, Boulet JR, Boyle WA
Competence in decision making: setting performance standards for critical care.
Health care professionals must be able to make frequent and timely decisions that can alter the illness trajectory of intensive care patients. A competence standard for this ability is difficult to establish yet assuring practitioners can make appropriate judgments is an important step in advancing patient safety. In this study, the investigators hypothesized that simulation could be used effectively to assess decision-making competence.
AHRQ-funded; HS022265.
Citation: Murray DJ, Boulet JR, Boyle WA .
Competence in decision making: setting performance standards for critical care.
Anesth Analg 2021 Jul 1;133(1):142-50. doi: 10.1213/ane.0000000000005053..
Keywords: Critical Care, Shared Decision Making, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Simulation, Provider Performance, Patient Safety, Quality of Care
Woods-Hill CZ, Koontz DW, King AF
Practices, perceptions, and attitudes in the evaluation of critically ill children for bacteremia: a national survey.
Sending blood cultures in children at low risk of bacteremia can contribute to a cascade of unnecessary antibiotic exposure, adverse effects, and increased costs. In this study, the investigators aimed to describe practice variation, clinician beliefs, and attitudes about blood culture testing in critically ill children. They concluded that there is variation in blood culture practices in the pediatric ICU. Fear and reflexive habits are common drivers of cultures. These practices may contribute to over-testing for bacteremia.
AHRQ-funded; HS025642.
Citation: Woods-Hill CZ, Koontz DW, King AF .
Practices, perceptions, and attitudes in the evaluation of critically ill children for bacteremia: a national survey.
Pediatr Crit Care Med 2020 Jan;21(1):e23-e29. doi: 10.1097/pcc.0000000000002176..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Critical Care, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Antibiotics, Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events, Patient Safety, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Shared Decision Making
Hinson JS, Martinez DA, Cabral S
Triage performance in emergency medicine: a systematic review.
The authors synthesized existing emergency department (ED) triage literature by using a framework that enables performance comparisons and benchmarking across triage systems, with respect to clinical outcomes and reliability. They found that a substantial proportion of ED patients who die post-encounter or who are critically ill are not designated as high acuity at triage. They suggested that the opportunity exists to improve interrater reliability and triage performance in identifying patients at risk of adverse outcome.
AHRQ-funded; HS023641.
Citation: Hinson JS, Martinez DA, Cabral S .
Triage performance in emergency medicine: a systematic review.
Ann Emerg Med 2019 Jul;74(1):140-52. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2018.09.022..
Keywords: Emergency Department, Shared Decision Making, Critical Care, Outcomes, Health Information Technology (HIT)
Kruser JM, Benjamin BT, Gordon EJ
Patient and family engagement during treatment decisions in an ICU: a discourse analysis of the electronic health record.
This study looked at patient and family engagement during treatment decisions with patients in a medical ICU. A total of 52 patients were included who had been admitted to a hospital ICU during 2016. Half of them met a consensus definition of chronic critical illness, and the other half either died or had transitioned to hospice care in the ICU. Clinical electronic health records (EHRs) were used to document decision points. The phrase “goals of care” was frequently found in the HER and was used to indicate poor prognosis.
AHRQ-funded; HS000078.
Citation: Kruser JM, Benjamin BT, Gordon EJ .
Patient and family engagement during treatment decisions in an ICU: a discourse analysis of the electronic health record.
Crit Care Med 2019 Jun;47(6):784-91. doi: 10.1097/ccm.0000000000003711..
Keywords: Critical Care, Shared Decision Making, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Patient and Family Engagement
Murray DJ, Boyle WA, Beyatte MB
Decision-making skills improve with critical care training: using simulation to measure progress.
Health care professionals are expected to acquire decision-making skills during their training, but few methods are available to assess progress in acquiring these essential skills. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a simulation methodology could be used to assess whether decision-making skills improve during critical care training. The investigators indicate that their findings provide evidence to support the validity of a simulation-based method to assess progress in decision-making skills.
AHRQ-funded; HS022265.
Citation: Murray DJ, Boyle WA, Beyatte MB .
Decision-making skills improve with critical care training: using simulation to measure progress.
J Crit Care 2018 Oct;47:133-38. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2018.06.021..
Keywords: Critical Care, Education: Continuing Medical Education, Shared Decision Making, Simulation, Teams, Training
Boyle WA, Murray DJ, Beyatte MB
Simulation-based assessment of critical care "front-line" providers.
The researchers developed a standardized simulation method to assess clinical skills of ICU providers. Their simulation assessments yielded reasonably reliable measures of Critical Care Medicine decision-making skills. Despite a wide range of performance, those with more ICU training and experience performed better, providing evidence to support the validity of the scores.
AHRQ-funded; HS018734; HS022265.
Citation: Boyle WA, Murray DJ, Beyatte MB .
Simulation-based assessment of critical care "front-line" providers.
Crit Care Med 2018 Jun;46(6):e516-e22. doi: 10.1097/ccm.0000000000003073.
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Keywords: Critical Care, Shared Decision Making, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Provider Performance, Training
Segall N, Bennett-Guerrero E
ICU rounds: "What we've got here is failure to communicate".
Many of the decisions regarding critical care patients are made during patient rounds—approximately nine per patient— based on the premise that the data that inform the decisions are accurate and complete. The study by Artis et al in this issue challenges this premise. The authors discuss the article, its context and implications.
AHRQ-funded; HS023387.
Citation: Segall N, Bennett-Guerrero E .
ICU rounds: "What we've got here is failure to communicate".
Crit Care Med 2017 Feb;45(2):366-67. doi: 10.1097/ccm.0000000000002125.
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Keywords: Communication, Critical Care, Shared Decision Making, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Patient Safety
Freedman S
Capacity and utilization in health care: the effect of empty beds on neonatal intensive care admission.
In this paper, the author exploited short-term variation in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) capacity that is unlikely to be correlated with unobserved demand determinants. He found that available NICU beds have little to no effect on NICU utilization for the sickest infants, but do increase utilization for those in the range of birth weights where admission decisions are likely to be more discretionary.
AHRQ-funded; HS018266.
Citation: Freedman S .
Capacity and utilization in health care: the effect of empty beds on neonatal intensive care admission.
Am Econ J Econ Policy 2016 May 1;8(2):154-85. doi: 10.1257/pol.20120393.
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Keywords: Newborns/Infants, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Healthcare Utilization, Critical Care, Shared Decision Making
Murray DJ, Freeman BD, Boulet JR
Decision making in trauma settings: simulation to improve diagnostic skills.
The objective of this study was to determine whether simulation could be used to provide teams the experiences in managing scenarios that require the use of heuristic as well as analytic diagnostic skills to effectively recognize and treat potentially life-threatening injuries. The results of this preliminary study indicates that teams led by more senior residents received higher scores when managing heuristic scenarios but were less effective when managing the scenarios that require a more analytic approach.
AHRQ-funded; HS018734; HS022265.
Citation: Murray DJ, Freeman BD, Boulet JR .
Decision making in trauma settings: simulation to improve diagnostic skills.
Simul Healthc 2015 Jun;10(3):139-45. doi: 10.1097/sih.0000000000000073..
Keywords: Shared Decision Making, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Critical Care, Patient Safety, Medical Errors
Admon AJ, Cooke CR
Will Choosing Wisely(R) improve quality and lower costs of care for patients with critical illness?
This article reports on a campaign by the American Board of Internal Medicine to improve care and lower costs by generating a “top five” list of expensive tests or treatments without known benefits. It offers several strategies for stakeholders to increase the impact of the critical care top-five list.
AHRQ-funded; HS020672
Citation: Admon AJ, Cooke CR .
Will Choosing Wisely(R) improve quality and lower costs of care for patients with critical illness?
Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2014 Jun;11(5):823-7. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201403-093OI..
Keywords: Shared Decision Making, Critical Care, Quality of Care, Healthcare Costs
Myers SR, Salhi RA, Lerner EB
A pilot study describing access to emergency care in two states using a model emergency care categorization system.
To improve regionalization of care and patient decisions when seeking emergency care, the researchers surveyed emergency departments (EDs) in 2 States. They found that 25 percent provided advanced care, 10.5 percent comprehensive care, and 1.6 percent pediatric critical care. Overall, 75.1 percent of the population could reach advanced or comprehensive ED within 60 minutes by ground transportation.
AHRQ-funded; HS017960; HS018604
Citation: Myers SR, Salhi RA, Lerner EB .
A pilot study describing access to emergency care in two states using a model emergency care categorization system.
Acad Emerg Med. 2013 Sep;20(9):894-903. doi: 10.1111/acem.12208..
Keywords: Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Access to Care, Critical Care, Shared Decision Making