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AHRQ Research Studies Date
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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 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.
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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.
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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.
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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
Lowry C, Orr K, Embry B
Primary care scribes: writing a new story for safety net clinics.
The researchers conducted an evaluation of trained volunteer scribes for primary care clinics serving a diverse, low-income population in a US safety net system, which implemented a new EHR between 2011 and 2014. In a safety net primary care system, trained volunteer scribes were associated with improved clinician efficiency and experience and no difference in patient satisfaction.
AHRQ-funded; HS022561; HS023558.
Citation: Lowry C, Orr K, Embry B .
Primary care scribes: writing a new story for safety net clinics.
BMJ Open Qual 2017 Oct 25;6(2):e000124. doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2017-000124.
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Keywords: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Patient Experience, Primary Care, Health Information Technology (HIT), Workflow
Benda NC, Fairbanks RJ, Fairbanks RJ
Are you paying attention? Related guidance on how concepts of attention may inform effective time sharing of tasks in emergency medicine.
The authors respond to an earlier article providing a thoughtful introduction to the importance of teaching effective task switching in emergency medicine. Their letter introduces the concept of attention, provides examples of tasks that can be most safely and effectively time shared, and notes that these principles must be considered in designing tools for the time sharing and rapid switching of tasks necessary in the ED environment.
AHRQ-funded; HS022542.
Citation: Benda NC, Fairbanks RJ, Fairbanks RJ .
Are you paying attention? Related guidance on how concepts of attention may inform effective time sharing of tasks in emergency medicine.
Ann Emerg Med 2017 May;69(5):669-70. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2017.01.027.
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Keywords: Workflow, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Emergency Department, Patient Safety
Calvitti A, Hochheiser H, Ashfaq S
Physician activity during outpatient visits and subjective workload.
The researchers describe methods for capturing and analyzing EHR use and clinical workflow of physicians during outpatient encounters and relating activity to physicians' self-reported workload. They found that visit activity was highly variable across individual physicians, and the observed activity metrics ranged widely as correlates to subjective workload.
AHRQ-funded; HS021290.
Citation: Calvitti A, Hochheiser H, Ashfaq S .
Physician activity during outpatient visits and subjective workload.
J Biomed Inform 2017 May;69:135-49. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2017.03.011.
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Keywords: Healthcare Delivery, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Workflow, Ambulatory Care and Surgery
Hanauer DA, Branford GL, Greenberg G
Two-year longitudinal assessment of physicians' perceptions after replacement of a longstanding homegrown electronic health record: does a J-curve of satisfaction really exist?
This report describes a 2-year prospective, longitudinal survey of attending physicians in 3 clinical areas (family medicine, general pediatrics, internal medicine) who experienced a transition from a homegrown electronic health record (EHR) to a vendor EHR. The primary goal was to determine if perceptions followed a J-curve pattern in which they initially dropped but eventually surpassed baseline measures. A J-curve was not found for any measures, including workflow, safety, communication, and satisfaction.
AHRQ-funded; HS023613.
Citation: Hanauer DA, Branford GL, Greenberg G .
Two-year longitudinal assessment of physicians' perceptions after replacement of a longstanding homegrown electronic health record: does a J-curve of satisfaction really exist?
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2017 Apr 1;24(e1):e157-e65. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocw077.
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Keywords: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Provider: Health Personnel, Ambulatory Care and Surgery, Patient Safety, Workflow
Narayanan J, Dobrin S, Choi J
Structured clinical documentation in the electronic medical record to improve quality and to support practice-based research in epilepsy.
The researchers describe a stepwise process for building structured clinical documentation support tools in the electronic medical record (EMR) that define best practices in epilepsy, and describe how they incorporated these toolkits into their clinical workflow. These tools write notes and capture hundreds of fields of data including several score tests. They also summarize brain imaging, blood laboratory, and electroencephalography results, and document neuromodulation treatments.
AHRQ-funded; HS024057.
Citation: Narayanan J, Dobrin S, Choi J .
Structured clinical documentation in the electronic medical record to improve quality and to support practice-based research in epilepsy.
Epilepsia 2017 Jan;58(1):68-76. doi: 10.1111/epi.13607.
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Keywords: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Neurological Disorders, Quality of Care, Quality Improvement, Tools & Toolkits, Workflow
Fong A, Hoffman DJ, Zachary Hettinger A
Identifying visual search patterns in eye gaze data; gaining insights into physician visual workflow.
The authors propose an algorithmic approach to identify different visual search patterns. They demonstrate this approach by identifying common physician visual search patterns using a simulated prototype emergency department patient tracking system. They then discuss the benefits and limitations as well as insights from this initial evaluation.
AHRQ-funded; HS020433.
Citation: Fong A, Hoffman DJ, Zachary Hettinger A .
Identifying visual search patterns in eye gaze data; gaining insights into physician visual workflow.
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2016 Nov;23(6):1180-84. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocv196.
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Keywords: Healthcare Delivery, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Workflow
Valdez RS, Holden RJ
Health care human factors/ergonomics fieldwork in home and community settings.
The researchers offered several strategies that human factors and ergonomics professionals can use before, during, and after home and community site visits to optimize fieldwork and mitigate challenges in these settings.
AHRQ-funded; HS022930; HS018809.
Citation: Valdez RS, Holden RJ .
Health care human factors/ergonomics fieldwork in home and community settings.
Ergon Des 2016 Oct;24(4):4-9. doi: 10.1177/1064804615622111.
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Keywords: Caregiving, Community-Based Practice, Home Healthcare, Workflow
Menon S, Murphy DR, SIngh H
Workarounds and test results follow-up in electronic health record-based primary care.
This study sought to understand why primary care practitioners use workarounds to manage test results by analyzing data from a previously conducted national cross-sectional survey on test result management. It concluded that workarounds to manage EHR-based test results are common, and their use results from unmet provider information management needs.
AHRQ-funded; HS022901; HS022087.
Citation: Menon S, Murphy DR, SIngh H .
Workarounds and test results follow-up in electronic health record-based primary care.
Appl Clin Inform 2016 Jun 22;7(2):543-59. doi: 10.4338/aci-2015-10-ra-0135.
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Keywords: Communication, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Primary Care, Workflow
Gray CP, Harrison MI, Hung D
AHRQ Author: Harrison MI
Medical assistants as flow managers in primary care: challenges and recommendations.
Drawing on an empirical study of a large, multispecialty delivery system engaged in reconfiguration of primary care, the authors found that using medical assistants (Mas) as flow managers required overcoming several challenges. These included entrenched social and occupational hierarchies between physicians and MAs, a lack of adequate training and mentorship, and difficulty attracting and retaining talented MAs.
AHRQ-authored; AHRQ-funded; 2902010000221.
Citation: Gray CP, Harrison MI, Hung D .
Medical assistants as flow managers in primary care: challenges and recommendations.
J Healthc Manag 2016 May-Jun;61(3):181-91.
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Keywords: Primary Care, Organizational Change, Practice Improvement, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Workflow, Provider
Abraham J, Kannampallil T, Brenner C
Characterizing the structure and content of nurse handoffs: a Sequential Conversational Analysis approach.
This paper describes Sequential Conversational Analysis (SCA) - a mixed-method approach integrating qualitative conversational analysis with quantitative sequential pattern analysis. This approach allows characterization of the nature of nurse handoff communication, highlighting the relationships underlying verbal content. The authors also discuss how SCA can help in understanding the dynamics of communication in other settings.
AHRQ-funded; HS017586.
Citation: Abraham J, Kannampallil T, Brenner C .
Characterizing the structure and content of nurse handoffs: a Sequential Conversational Analysis approach.
J Biomed Inform 2016 Feb;59:76-88. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2015.11.009.
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Keywords: Communication, Quality of Care, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Nursing, Workflow
Acharya S, Fischer-Valuck BW, Kashani R
Online magnetic resonance image guided adaptive radiation therapy: first clinical applications.
The authors demonstrated the feasibility of online adaptive magnetic resonance (MR) image guided radiation therapy (MR-IGRT) with five patients with abdominopelvic malignancies. They successfully implemented online adaptive MR-IGRT with planning and quality assurance workflow suitable for routine clinical application. Clinical trials are in development to formally evaluate adaptive treatments for a variety of disease sites.
AHRQ-funded; HS022888.
Citation: Acharya S, Fischer-Valuck BW, Kashani R .
Online magnetic resonance image guided adaptive radiation therapy: first clinical applications.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2016 Feb;94(2):394-403. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2015.10.015.
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Keywords: Cancer, Cancer: Colorectal Cancer, Imaging, Workflow
Holman GT, Beasley JW, Karsh BT
The myth of standardized workflow in primary care.
This analysis evaluates workflow variation in terms of the sequence of tasks performed during patient visits. It concluded that the prevalence of specific tasks shifts significantly as primary care visits progress to their conclusion but, notably, PCPs collect patient information throughout the visit.
AHRQ-funded; HS017115; HS017014.
Citation: Holman GT, Beasley JW, Karsh BT .
The myth of standardized workflow in primary care.
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2016 Jan;23(1):29-37. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocv107.
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Keywords: Primary Care, Workflow