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- (-) Adverse Events (22)
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- Children/Adolescents (3)
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- Risk (2)
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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 22 of 22 Research Studies DisplayedAuerbach AD, Lee TM, Hubbard CC
Diagnostic errors in hospitalized adults who died or were transferred to intensive care.
The objective of this retrospective cohort study was to determine the prevalence, underlying causes, and harms of diagnostic errors in hospitalized adults who were transferred to an intensive care unit or who died. Data was taken from 29 academic medical centers in the U.S. in a random sample of adults hospitalized with general medical conditions. Errors were found to have contributed to temporary harm, permanent harm, or death in nearly 18% of patients; among patients who died, diagnostic error was judged to have contributed to death in 6.6% of cases. The researchers noted that problems with choosing and interpreting tests and the processes involved with clinician assessment were a high priority for improvement efforts.
AHRQ-funded; HS027369.
Citation: Auerbach AD, Lee TM, Hubbard CC .
Diagnostic errors in hospitalized adults who died or were transferred to intensive care.
JAMA Intern Med 2024 Feb; 184(2):164-73. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.7347..
Keywords: Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Medical Errors, Hospitals, Inpatient Care, Quality of Care, Patient Safety, Adverse Events
Dalal AK, Schnipper JL, Raffel K
Identifying and classifying diagnostic errors in acute care across hospitals: early lessons from the Utility of Predictive Systems in Diagnostic Errors (UPSIDE) study.
This paper describes the Utility of Predictive Systems in Diagnostic Errors (UPSIDE) study, whose aim was to define the prevalence and underlying causes of diagnostic errors (DEs) in patients who die in the hospital or are transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) after the first 48 hours. This study was conducted at 31 hospitals with more than 2500 cases reviewed using electronic health records. The authors identified some insights into key requirements into building a robust DE surveillance program by developing these steps: 1) Develop a shared understanding of what constitutes a diagnostic error; 2) Use validated tools to identify diagnostic errors and classify process failures, but respect your context; 3) Develop a standard approach to using electronic health records for case reviews; 4) Ensure reliability and consistency of the case review process; and 5) Link diagnostic error case reviews to institutional safety programs. They also developed steps to establish a diagnosis error review process at the hospital level with six processes.
AHRQ-funded; HS027369; HS026613.
Citation: Dalal AK, Schnipper JL, Raffel K .
Identifying and classifying diagnostic errors in acute care across hospitals: early lessons from the Utility of Predictive Systems in Diagnostic Errors (UPSIDE) study.
J Hosp Med 2024 Feb; 19(2):140-45. doi: 10.1002/jhm.13136..
Keywords: Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Medical Errors, Adverse Events, Patient Safety, Quality of Care, Hospitals
Newman-Toker DE, Nassery N, Schaffer AC
Burden of serious harms from diagnostic error in the USA.
Americans who experience serious harm from misdiagnosis annually. Serious harm is defined as permanent morbidity or morality. This cross-sectional analysis used nationally representative observational data. The authors estimated annual incident vascular events and infections from 21.5 million (M) sampled US hospital discharges (2012-2014). US-based cancer registries were used to find annual new cancers. They derived diagnostic errors and serious harms by multiplying by literature-based rates for disease-specific incidences for 15 major vascular events, infections and cancers ('Big Three' categories). Extrapolating to all diseases (including non-'Big Three' dangerous disease categories), they estimated total serious harms annually in the USA to be 795,000 (plausible range 598,000-1,023,000). Using more conservative assumptions they estimated 549,000 serious harms. These results were compatible with setting-specific serious harm estimates from inpatient, emergency department and ambulatory care. Fifteen dangerous diseases accounted for 50.7% of total serious harms and the top 5 (stroke, sepsis, pneumonia, venous thromboembolism and lung cancer) accounted for 38.7%.
AHRQ-funded; HS027614; HS029350.
Citation: Newman-Toker DE, Nassery N, Schaffer AC .
Burden of serious harms from diagnostic error in the USA.
BMJ Qual Saf 2024 Jan 19; 33(2):109-20. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2021-014130..
Keywords: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Medical Errors, Patient Safety, Quality of Care, Adverse Events
Giardina TD, Hunte H, Hill MA
Defining diagnostic error: a scoping review to assess the impact of the National Academies' report improving diagnosis in Health Care.
This study looked at peer-reviewed published literature to explore how researchers operationalize the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) definition of diagnostic error that was defined in their 2015 publication “Improving Diagnosis in Health Care”. Published literature was identified from October 2015 to February 2021. The authors also conducted subject matter expert interviews. Of the 34 studies identified, 16 were analyzed and abstracted to determine how diagnostic error was operationalized and measured. Studies were grouped by four themes: epidemiology, patient focus, measurement/surveillance, and clinician focus. Nine studies identified used the NASM definition. Five of those studies also operationalized with existing definitions proposed before the NASEM report, four operationalized the components of the NASEM definition, and three studies operationalized error using existing definitions only. Subject matter experts concluded that the NASEM definition functions as a foundation for researchers to conceptualize diagnostic error.
AHRQ-funded; 233201500022I; HS027280; HS025474; HS027363.
Citation: Giardina TD, Hunte H, Hill MA .
Defining diagnostic error: a scoping review to assess the impact of the National Academies' report improving diagnosis in Health Care.
J Patient Saf 2022 Dec 1;18(8):770-78. doi: 10.1097/pts.0000000000000999..
Keywords: Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Quality of Care, Medical Errors, Adverse Events, Healthcare Delivery
Marshall TL, Ipsaro AJ, Le M
Increasing physician reporting of diagnostic learning opportunities.
This study investigated methods to improve physician reporting of diagnostic errors at the pediatric division of a hospital. In that pediatric hospital medicine (PHM) division only 1 diagnostic-related safety event was reported in the preceding 4 years. The authors aimed to improve attending physician reporting of suspected diagnostic errors from 0 to 2 per 100 PHM patient admissions within 6 months. The improvement team used the Model for Improvement and used the term diagnostic learning opportunity (DLO) with clinicians as opposed to diagnostic error to lessen the stigma. They developed an electronic reporting form and encouraged its use through reminders, scheduled reflection time, and monthly progress reports. Over the course of 13 weeks, there was an increase from 0 to 1.6 per patient admission reports files. Most events (66%) were true diagnostic errors.
AHRQ-funded; HS023827.
Citation: Marshall TL, Ipsaro AJ, Le M .
Increasing physician reporting of diagnostic learning opportunities.
Pediatrics 2021 Jan;147(1). doi: 10.1542/peds.2019-2400..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Medical Errors, Adverse Events, Patient Safety, Hospitals, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Griffey RT, Schneider RM, Todorov AA
The emergency department trigger tool: validation and testing to optimize yield.
Researchers validated the emergency department trigger tool (EDTT) in an independent sample and compared record selection approaches to optimize yield for quality improvement. In this single-site study of the EDTT, they observed high levels of validity in trigger selection, yield, and representativeness of adverse events, with yields that are superior to estimates for traditional approaches to adverse event detection. Record selection using weighted triggers outperformed a trigger count threshold approach and far outperformed random sampling from records with at least one trigger. They concluded that the EDTT is a promising efficient and high-yield approach for detecting all-cause harm to guide quality improvement efforts in the emergency department.
AHRQ-funded; HS025052.
Citation: Griffey RT, Schneider RM, Todorov AA .
The emergency department trigger tool: validation and testing to optimize yield.
Acad Emerg Med 2020 Dec;27(12):1279-90. doi: 10.1111/acem.14101..
Keywords: Emergency Department, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Medical Errors, Adverse Events, Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Mangrum R, Stewart MD, Gifford DR
Omissions of care in nursing homes: a uniform definition for research and quality improvement.
The goal of this study was to create a uniform definition of omission of care in US nursing homes. Lack of a uniform definition has made efforts to prevent them challenging. Subject matter experts and a broad range of nursing home stakeholders were brought together in iterative rounds of engagement to identify key concepts and aspects of omissions of care and develop a consensus-based definition. The concise definition decided on was: “Omissions of care in nursing homes encompass situations when care–either clinical or nonclinical–is not provided for a resident and results in additional monitoring or intervention or increases the risk of an undesirable or adverse physical, emotional, or psychosocial outcome for the resident."
AHRQ-funded; 233201500014I.
Citation: Mangrum R, Stewart MD, Gifford DR .
Omissions of care in nursing homes: a uniform definition for research and quality improvement.
J Am Med Dir Assoc 2020 Nov;21(11):1587-91.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2020.08.016..
Keywords: Elderly, Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Medical Errors, Adverse Events, Patient Safety, Risk, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
Griffey RT, Schneider RM, Todorov AA
The emergency department trigger tool: a novel approach to screening for quality and safety events.
The goal of this study was to develop an automated version of a previously developed emergency department (ED) trigger tool to track the likelihood of an adverse event. Thirty triggers were associated with risk of harm. The authors identified 1,726 records out of 76,894 ED visits with greater than or equal to 1 trigger. They compared the results of the automated tool to the previous version and found it performed well. They began with a broad set of candidate triggers and validated a computerized query that eliminates the need for manual screening of triggers and also identified a refined set of triggers associated with adverse events in the ED.
AHRQ-funded; HS025052.
Citation: Griffey RT, Schneider RM, Todorov AA .
The emergency department trigger tool: a novel approach to screening for quality and safety events.
Ann Emerg Med 2020 Aug;76(2):230-40. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2019.07.032..
Keywords: Emergency Department, Patient Safety, Adverse Events, Medical Errors, Quality of Care, Risk
Dadlez NM, Adelman J, Bundy DG
Contributing factors for pediatric ambulatory diagnostic process errors: Project RedDE.
This study examined root causes of three common pediatric diagnostic errors by having 31 practices enrolled in a national QI collaborative perform monthly “mini-RCAs” (mini root cause analyses). The diagnoses errors studied were missed adolescent depression, missed elevated blood pressure, and missed actionable laboratory values. Twenty-eight practices submitted 184 mini-RCAs with the most common causes being patient volume (adolescent depression and elevated BP), inadequate staffing (adolescent depression), clinic milieu (elevated BP), written communication and provider knowledge (actionable laboratory values), and electronic health records (EHRs) – (elevated BP and actionable laboratory values). The median number of mini-RCAs submitted was 6.
AHRQ-funded; HS024538; HS024713; HS026121.
Citation: Dadlez NM, Adelman J, Bundy DG .
Contributing factors for pediatric ambulatory diagnostic process errors: Project RedDE.
Pediatr Qual Saf 2020 May-Jun;5(3):e299. doi: 10.1097/pq9.0000000000000299..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Medical Errors, Adverse Events, Patient Safety
Giardina TD, Royse KE, Khanna A
Health care provider factors associated with patient-reported adverse events and harm.
This research examined associations between patient-reported contributory factors and patient-related harms experienced after an adverse event (AE). A secondary analysis was conducted of a national sample of patient-reported AEs gathered from an online questionnaire from 2010 to February 2016. Harms were categorized as nonphysical harm only, physical harm only, physical harm and emotional or financial harm, or all three harms. One third (32.6%) of patients reported experiencing all three harms, 25.5% physical harms only, and 14.7% reported nonphysical harms only. Patients reporting all three harms were 2.5 times more likely to have filed a report with authorities and 3.3 times more likely to also have experienced a surgical complication. Odds were also 13% higher of reporting problems related to communication between clinician and patients/families or clinician-related behavioral issues with patients experiencing all three harms.
AHRQ-funded; HS025474.
Citation: Giardina TD, Royse KE, Khanna A .
Health care provider factors associated with patient-reported adverse events and harm.
Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 2020 May;46(5):282-90. doi: 10.1016/j.jcjq.2020.02.004.
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Keywords: Adverse Events, Medical Errors, Patient Safety, Quality of Care
Ogletree AM, Mangrum R, Harris Y
AHRQ Author: Bergofsky L Perfetto D
Omissions of care in nursing home settings: a narrative review.
This review aimed to (1) examine existing definitions of omissions of care in the healthcare environment and associated characteristics and (2) outline adverse events that may be attributable to omissions of care among nursing home populations. The investigators concluded that definitions of omissions of care for nursing homes varied in scope and level of detail. Substantial evidence connected omissions of care with an array of adverse events in nursing home populations.
AHRQ-authored; AHRQ-funded; 233201500014I.
Citation: Ogletree AM, Mangrum R, Harris Y .
Omissions of care in nursing home settings: a narrative review.
J Am Med Dir Assoc 2020 May;21(5):604-14. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2020.02.016..
Keywords: Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Adverse Events, Medical Errors, Patient Safety, Quality of Care
Sheehan SE, Safdar N, Singh H
Detection and remediation of misidentification errors in radiology examination ordering.
In this study, the investigators described the pilot testing of a quality improvement methodology using electronic trigger tools and preimaging checklists to detect "wrong-side" misidentification errors in radiology examination ordering, and to measure staff adherence to departmental policy in error remediation. The investigators concluded that their trigger tool enabled the detection of substantially more imaging ordering misidentification errors than preimaging safety checklists alone, with a high positive predictive value.
AHRQ-funded; HS022087; HS017820.
Citation: Sheehan SE, Safdar N, Singh H .
Detection and remediation of misidentification errors in radiology examination ordering.
Appl Clin Inform 2020 Jan;11(1):79-87. doi: 10.1055/s-0039-3402730..
Keywords: Medical Errors, Adverse Events, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Patient Safety, Imaging, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Singh H, Graber ML, Hofer TP
Measures to improve diagnostic safety in clinical practice.
In this paper, the investigators discuss how the need to develop measures to improve diagnostic performance could move forward at a time when the scientific foundation needed to inform measurement is still evolving. They highlight challenges and opportunities for developing potential measures of "diagnostic safety" related to clinical diagnostic errors and associated preventable diagnostic harm. In doing so, they propose a starter set of measurement concepts for initial consideration that seem reasonably related to diagnostic safety and call for these to be studied and further refined.
AHRQ-funded; HS022087.
Citation: Singh H, Graber ML, Hofer TP .
Measures to improve diagnostic safety in clinical practice.
J Patient Saf 2019 Dec;15(4):311-16. doi: 10.1097/pts.0000000000000338.
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Keywords: Patient Safety, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Healthcare Delivery, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Medical Errors, Adverse Events
St Hilaire MA, Anderson C, Anwar J
Brief (<4 hour) sleep episodes are insufficient for restoring performance in first-year resident physicians working overnight extended-duration work shifts.
This study examines the impact of reinstating extended duration (24-28) work shifts (EDWS) for postgraduate year 1 resident physicians. The performance of residents was studied for 23 male residents between 2002-2004 during a three-week on-call rotation schedule at the Medical and Intensive Care Units at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. If the sleep episodes were four hours or less then the odds of >1 attentional failure was 2.72 times higher during post-call compared to matched sessions during non-EDWS.
AHRQ-funded; HS012032.
Citation: St Hilaire MA, Anderson C, Anwar J .
Brief (<4 hour) sleep episodes are insufficient for restoring performance in first-year resident physicians working overnight extended-duration work shifts.
Sleep 2019 May;42(5):pii: zsz041. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsz041..
Keywords: Adverse Events, Education: Continuing Medical Education, Medical Errors, Patient Safety, Provider, Provider: Physician, Quality of Care, Sleep Problems, Training
Bundy DG, Singh H, Stein RE
The design and conduct of Project RedDE: a cluster-randomized trial to reduce diagnostic errors in pediatric primary care.
This paper discusses the results of Project RedDE, which was a virtual collaborative quality improvement study to reduce diagnostic errors in pediatric primary care practices. Forty-three practices were initially recruited, with a total of 31 practices left at the end due to practice dropout and two participating practices merging. This study was a randomized controlled trial targeting three common diagnostic errors (missed diagnoses of adolescent depression, abnormal blood pressure, and lack of followup for abnormal laboratory results). Contamination across study groups was a recurring problem, but risk mitigations were used. Electronic health records contributed to teams’ success.
AHRQ-funded; HS203608.
Citation: Bundy DG, Singh H, Stein RE .
The design and conduct of Project RedDE: a cluster-randomized trial to reduce diagnostic errors in pediatric primary care.
Clin Trials 2019 Apr;16(2):154-64. doi: 10.1177/1740774518820522..
Keywords: Adverse Events, Children/Adolescents, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Medical Errors, Prevention, Primary Care, Quality of Care, Quality Improvement
Muldoon MF, Kronish IM, Shimbo D
Of signal and noise: overcoming challenges in blood pressure measurement to optimize hypertension care.
This paper reviews the manifestations and consequences of BP mismeasurement and misinterpretation in clinical practice and draw on recent research to propose a set of solutions that leverage available technologies to optimize hypertension care.
AHRQ-funded; HS024262.
Citation: Muldoon MF, Kronish IM, Shimbo D .
Of signal and noise: overcoming challenges in blood pressure measurement to optimize hypertension care.
Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes 2018 May;11(5):e004543. doi: 10.1161/circoutcomes.117.004543..
Keywords: Blood Pressure, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Adverse Events, Medical Errors, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Quality of Care
Kang H, Gong Y
A novel schema to enhance data quality of patient safety event reports.
In this study, the researchers designed a patient safety event (PSE) similarity searching model based on semantic similarity measures, and proposed a novel schema of PSE reporting system which can effectively learn from previous experiences and timely inform the subsequent actions. Their system will not only help promote the report qualities but also serve as a knowledge base and education tool to guide healthcare providers in terms of preventing the recurrence of PSEs.
AHRQ-funded; HS022895.
Citation: Kang H, Gong Y .
A novel schema to enhance data quality of patient safety event reports.
AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2017 Feb 10;2016:1840-49.
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Keywords: Quality of Care, Patient Safety, Data, Adverse Events, Medical Errors
Gallagher TH, Farrell ML, Karson H
Collaboration with regulators to support quality and accountability following medical errors: The Communication and Resolution Program Certification Pilot.
The Medical Quality Assurance Commission (MQAC, board of medicine) in Washington State has collaborated with the Foundation for Health Care Quality (FHCQ) on the CRP Certification pilot. A panel of physicians, risk managers, and patient advocates at FHCQ will review cases for use of the CRP key elements. After describing the process, the authors concluded that the CRP Certification program is a promising example of collaboration among institutions, insurers, and regulators to promote patient-centered accountability and learning following adverse events.
AHRQ-funded; HS019531.
Citation: Gallagher TH, Farrell ML, Karson H .
Collaboration with regulators to support quality and accountability following medical errors: The Communication and Resolution Program Certification Pilot.
Health Serv Res 2016 Dec;51 Suppl 3:2569-82. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12557.
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Keywords: Adverse Events, Communication, Medical Errors, Medical Liability, Patient Safety, Quality of Care
Fernandez R, Grand JA
Leveraging social science-healthcare collaborations to improve teamwork and patient safety.
This article highlights guiding team science principles from the organizational psychology literature that can be applied to the study of teams in healthcare. The authors' goal is to provide some common language and understanding around teams and teamwork. Additionally, they hope to impart an appreciation for the potential synergy present within clinician-social scientist collaborations.
AHRQ-funded; HS020295; HS022458.
Citation: Fernandez R, Grand JA .
Leveraging social science-healthcare collaborations to improve teamwork and patient safety.
Curr Probl Pediatr Adolesc Health Care 2015 Dec;45(12):370-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cppeds.2015.10.005.
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Keywords: Patient Safety, Teams, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Medical Errors, Adverse Events
Okafor NG, Doshi PB, Miller SK
Voluntary medical incident reporting tool to improve physician reporting of medical errors in an emergency department.
A web-based, password-protected tool was developed by members of a quality assurance committee for ED providers to report incidents that they believe could impact patient safety. The researchers found that the utilization of this system in one residency program with two academic sites resulted in an increase from 81 reported incidents in 2009, the first year of use, to 561 reported incidents in 2012.
AHRQ-funded; HS017586.
Citation: Okafor NG, Doshi PB, Miller SK .
Voluntary medical incident reporting tool to improve physician reporting of medical errors in an emergency department.
West J Emerg Med 2015 Dec;16(7):1073-8. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2015.8.27390.
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Keywords: Emergency Department, Adverse Events, Medical Errors, Patient Safety, Public Reporting, Quality of Care
Crane S, Sloane PD, Elder N
Reporting and using near-miss events to improve patient safety in diverse primary care practices: a collaborative approach to learning from our mistakes.
This study assessed the feasibility of a near-miss reporting system in primary care practices and to describe initial reports and practice responses to them. It found that all 7 practices successfully implemented the system, reporting 632 near-miss events in 9 months and initiating 32 quality improvement projects based on the reports.
AHRQ-funded; HS019558.
Citation: Crane S, Sloane PD, Elder N .
Reporting and using near-miss events to improve patient safety in diverse primary care practices: a collaborative approach to learning from our mistakes.
J Am Board Fam Med 2015 Jul-Aug;28(4):452-60. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2015.04.140050..
Keywords: Adverse Events, Medical Errors, Patient Safety, Primary Care, Public Reporting, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Clancy C, Fraser I
AHRQ Author: Clancy C, Fraser I
High-quality health care.
This chapter describes the current state of health care quality (including avoidable harms from care); reviews selected efforts to conceptualize, measure, and improve quality; describes how measures are used to guide improvements in care; addresses promising initiatives to improve care; and predicts how the health care landscape will evolve in the coming years.
AHRQ-authored
Citation: Clancy C, Fraser I .
High-quality health care.
In: Knickman J, Kovner AR, editors. Jonas and Kovner's health care delivery in the United States. 11 ed. New York: Springer; 2015. p. 273-96..
Keywords: Quality of Care, Patient Safety, Medical Errors, Adverse Events, Quality Improvement