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AHRQ Research Studies Date
Topics
- Adverse Drug Events (ADE) (1)
- Adverse Events (1)
- Arthritis (3)
- Cancer (1)
- Cancer: Breast Cancer (1)
- Caregiving (1)
- Children/Adolescents (2)
- Clinician-Patient Communication (12)
- (-) Communication (17)
- Community-Based Practice (1)
- Cultural Competence (2)
- Decision Making (3)
- Diabetes (1)
- Education: Patient and Caregiver (4)
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs) (3)
- Evidence-Based Practice (1)
- Guidelines (1)
- Healthcare Delivery (1)
- Health Information Technology (HIT) (7)
- (-) Health Literacy (17)
- Health Promotion (1)
- Hospital Discharge (1)
- Medical Errors (1)
- Medication (3)
- Medication: Safety (2)
- Neurological Disorders (1)
- Obesity (1)
- Opioids (1)
- Patient-Centered Healthcare (1)
- Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (1)
- Patient Adherence/Compliance (1)
- Patient and Family Engagement (4)
- Patient Experience (1)
- Patient Safety (1)
- Primary Care (1)
- Provider (1)
- Provider: Clinician (1)
- Provider: Pharmacist (1)
- Racial and Ethnic Minorities (3)
- Research Methodologies (1)
- Transplantation (1)
- Women (1)
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 17 of 17 Research Studies DisplayedCarroll AR, Johnson JA, Stassun JC
Health literacy-informed communication to reduce discharge medication errors in hospitalized children: a randomized clinical trial.
This study’s objective was to test a health literacy-informed communication intervention to decrease liquid medication dosing errors compared with standard counseling in hospitalized children. This parallel, randomized clinical trial was conducted from June 22, 2021, to August 20, 2022, at a tertiary care, US children's hospital. English- and Spanish-speaking caregivers of hospitalized children 6 years or younger prescribed a new, scheduled liquid medication at discharge were included in the analysis. Observed dosing errors were the main outcome measured, and secondary outcomes included caregiver-reported medication knowledge. Among 198 randomized caregivers (mean age 31.4 years; 186 women [93.9%]; 36 [18.2%] Hispanic or Latino and 158 [79.8%] White), the primary outcome was available for 151 (76.3%). The observed mean (SD) percentage dosing error was 1.0% (2.2 percentage points) among the intervention group and 3.3% (5.1 percentage points) among the standard counseling group (absolute difference, 2.3 percentage points). Twenty-four of 79 caregivers in the intervention group (30.4%) measured an incorrect dose compared with 39 of 72 (54.2%) in the standard counseling group. The intervention enhanced caregiver-reported medication knowledge compared with the standard counseling group for medication dose (71 of 76 [93.4%] vs 55 of 69 [79.7%]), duration of administration (65 of 76 [85.5%] vs 49 of 69 [71.0%], and correct reporting of 2 or more medication adverse effects (60 of 76 [78.9%] vs 13 of 69 [18.8%]).
AHRQ-funded; HS026122.
Citation: Carroll AR, Johnson JA, Stassun JC .
Health literacy-informed communication to reduce discharge medication errors in hospitalized children: a randomized clinical trial.
JAMA Netw Open 2024 Jan 2; 7(1):e2350969. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.50969..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Health Literacy, Communication, Medication, Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events, Medical Errors, Clinician-Patient Communication, Hospital Discharge, Medication: Safety
Jacobson CE, Heximer A, Olmeda-Barrientos R
Language accessibility of liver transplantation center websites.
This research letter describes an analysis of language accessibility of liver transplantation center websites. The authors surveyed patient-facing educational websites of all 140 active, accredited US liver transplantation centers. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia had websites. Inclusion criteria was that they were using the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network website. They analyzed each website for non-English content. Excluded were websites from Puerto Rico, as Spanish is the predominant governmental language. A total of 23 states had no transplant websites with online materials in a second language, and 34 sites (24.3%) had resources other than English on their website. California had the highest number of centers with resources in a language other than English, followed by Texas and New York. Spanish was the most common language available at 100% of sites that had resources other than English, followed by Arabic at 38.9% and Mandarin Chinese at 38.9%. A total of 108 different languages were represented among 10 state websites.
AHRQ-funded; HS000053.
Citation: Jacobson CE, Heximer A, Olmeda-Barrientos R .
Language accessibility of liver transplantation center websites.
Liver Transpl 2022 Apr; 28(4):722-24. doi: 10.1002/lt.26343..
Keywords: Transplantation, Clinician-Patient Communication, Communication, Health Information Technology (HIT), Health Literacy
Brown W, Balyan R, Karter AJ
Challenges and solutions to employing natural language processing and machine learning to measure patients' health literacy and physician writing complexity: the ECLIPPSE study.
In the National Library of Medicine-funded ECLIPPSE Project (Employing Computational Linguistics to Improve Patient-Provider Secure Emails exchange), the researchers attempted to create novel, valid, and scalable measures of both patients' health literacy (HL) and physicians' linguistic complexity by employing natural language processing techniques and machine learning. They identified 23 challenges and associated approaches that emerged from three overarching process domains. They suggested that investigators undertaking similar research in HL or using computational linguistic methods to assess patient-clinician exchange may find their solutions helpful when designing and executing health communications research.
Citation: Brown W, Balyan R, Karter AJ .
Challenges and solutions to employing natural language processing and machine learning to measure patients' health literacy and physician writing complexity: the ECLIPPSE study.
AHRQ-funded; HS026383..
Keywords: Health Literacy, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Communication, Clinician-Patient Communication
Liu LH, Garrett SB, Li J
Patient and clinician perspectives on a patient-facing dashboard that visualizes patient reported outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis.
The authors’ goal was to develop a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) 'dashboard' that could facilitate conversations about patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and that would be acceptable to a wide range of patients, including English and Spanish speakers and patients with adequate or limited health literacy. Using focus groups and principles of human-centered design, they created an RA dashboard that was well-accepted among patients and clinicians. They indicated that the ability to customize the data display was important for tailoring the dashboard to patients with diverse needs and preferences, with special attention to be given to feasibility concerns voiced by clinicians.
AHRQ-funded; HS025405.
Citation: Liu LH, Garrett SB, Li J .
Patient and clinician perspectives on a patient-facing dashboard that visualizes patient reported outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis.
Health Expect 2020 Aug;23(4):846-59. doi: 10.1111/hex.13057..
Keywords: Arthritis, Health Information Technology (HIT), Patient and Family Engagement, Clinician-Patient Communication, Communication, Health Literacy
Payán DD, Maggard-Gibbons M, Flórez KR
Taking Care of Yourself and Your Risk for Breast Cancer (CUIDARSE): a randomized controlled trial of a health communication intervention for Latinas.
Latinas in the United States are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer (BC) compared to non-Latinas. Literacy-appropriate and culturally sensitive cancer communication interventions can help address existing racial/ethnic BC disparities. In this study, the investigators formatively developed a new BC prevention brochure for Spanish-speaking Latinas (≥35 years) and conducted a randomized controlled trial of a health communication intervention for Latinas.
AHRQ-funded; HS019264.
Citation: Payán DD, Maggard-Gibbons M, Flórez KR .
Taking Care of Yourself and Your Risk for Breast Cancer (CUIDARSE): a randomized controlled trial of a health communication intervention for Latinas.
Health Educ Behav 2020 Aug;47(4):569-80. doi: 10.1177/1090198120920529..
Keywords: Cancer: Breast Cancer, Cancer, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Health Literacy, Education: Patient and Caregiver, Cultural Competence, Health Promotion, Communication, Women, Community-Based Practice
McCarthy DM, Curtis LM, Courtney DM
A multifaceted intervention to improve patient knowledge and safe use of opioids: results of the ED EMC(2) randomized controlled trial.
Despite increased focus on opioid prescribing, little is known about the influence of prescription opioid medication information given to patients in the emergency department (ED). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of an Electronic Medication Complete Communication (EMC(2)) Opioid Strategy on patients' safe use of opioids and knowledge about opioids. The study found that the EMC(2) tools improved demonstrated safe dosing, but these benefits did not translate into actual use based on medication dairies. The text-messaging intervention did result in improved patient knowledge.
AHRQ-funded; HS023459.
Citation: McCarthy DM, Curtis LM, Courtney DM .
A multifaceted intervention to improve patient knowledge and safe use of opioids: results of the ED EMC(2) randomized controlled trial.
Acad Emerg Med 2019 Dec;26(12):1311-25. doi: 10.1111/acem.13860..
Keywords: Opioids, Medication, Medication: Safety, Patient Safety, Health Literacy, Education: Patient and Caregiver, Clinician-Patient Communication, Communication, Health Information Technology (HIT)
Pack AP, Golin CE, Hill LM
Patient and clinician perspectives on optimizing graphical displays of longitudinal medication adherence data.
This study looked into the value of using graphical display prototypes of hypothetical daily drug concentrations measured in hair for patients to assess their medication adherence. Investigators surveyed 30 HIV-positive patients and 29 clinicians to assess their preferences for three different prototypes. Patients and clinicians generally found the prototypes acceptable, but clinicians largely preferred daily drug concentrations in bar graph display. Patients with lower health literacy had trouble understanding the link between medication-taking and drug concentrations in hair and also preferred pictographs over bar or line graphs.
AHRQ-funded; HS000032.
Citation: Pack AP, Golin CE, Hill LM .
Patient and clinician perspectives on optimizing graphical displays of longitudinal medication adherence data.
Patient Educ Couns 2019 Jun;102(6):1090-97. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2018.12.029..
Keywords: Clinician-Patient Communication, Communication, Health Literacy, Medication, Patient Adherence/Compliance, Provider, Provider: Clinician
Khoong EC, Cherian R, Matta GY
Perspectives of English, Chinese, and Spanish-speaking safety-net patients on clinician computer use: qualitative analysis.
The goal of this study was to understand how safety-net patients, including those with limited English proficiency, view clinician electronic health record (EHR) use. Through focus groups in English, Spanish, and Cantonese, results showed that linguistically diverse patients accepted the value of EHR use during outpatient visits but desired more eye contact, verbal warnings before EHR use, and screen-sharing. Support for clinicians in completing EHR-related tasks during the visit using patient-centered strategies for all patients is recommended.
AHRQ-funded; HS022561; HS023558; HS022408.
Citation: Khoong EC, Cherian R, Matta GY .
Perspectives of English, Chinese, and Spanish-speaking safety-net patients on clinician computer use: qualitative analysis.
J Med Internet Res 2019 May 22;21(5):e13131. doi: 10.2196/13131..
Keywords: Cultural Competence, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Patient Experience, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Clinician-Patient Communication, Health Literacy, Communication
Armstrong MJ, Rastgardani T, Gagliardi AR
Barriers and facilitators of communication about off periods in Parkinson's disease: qualitative analysis of patient, carepartner, and physician Interviews.
This article discusses barriers and facilitators of communication with Parkinson’s disease patients, care partners, and their physicians specifically during off periods. Twenty persons with Parkinson’s and their care partners, and 20 physicians participated in interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. Communication barrier levels were identified as patient-level, caregiver-level, and physician-level. For patients cognitive impairment and reluctance to discuss symptoms was the largest barrier. Caregiver absence was also a barrier. For physicians barriers were distraction by technology and lack of appreciation of off period burdens. Various tools such as home diaries, questionnaires and mobile phone videos can be used to aid communication regarding off periods. Patients and their caregivers stressed the need for more formal educational materials and improved educational tools.
AHRQ-funded; HS024159.
Citation: Armstrong MJ, Rastgardani T, Gagliardi AR .
Barriers and facilitators of communication about off periods in Parkinson's disease: qualitative analysis of patient, carepartner, and physician Interviews.
PLoS One 2019 Apr 18;14(4):e0215384. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215384..
Keywords: Communication, Clinician-Patient Communication, Neurological Disorders, Caregiving, Education: Patient and Caregiver, Health Literacy, Patient and Family Engagement
Sepucha KR, Abhyankar P, Hoffman AS
Standards for UNiversal reporting of patient Decision Aid Evaluation studies: the development of SUNDAE Checklist.
This study sought to develop and reach consensus on reporting guidelines to improve the quality of publications evaluating patient decision aids (PDAs). The study concluded that the SUNDAE (Standards for UNiversal reporting of patient Decision Aid Evaluations) Checklist will help ensure that reports of PDA evaluation studies are understandable, transparent and of high quality.
AHRQ-funded; HS024250.
Citation: Sepucha KR, Abhyankar P, Hoffman AS .
Standards for UNiversal reporting of patient Decision Aid Evaluation studies: the development of SUNDAE Checklist.
BMJ Qual Saf 2018 May;27(5):380-88. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2017-006986..
Keywords: Communication, Decision Making, Education: Patient and Caregiver, Evidence-Based Practice, Guidelines, Health Literacy, Patient-Centered Healthcare
Ratanawongsa N, Barton JL, Lyles CR
Computer use, language, and literacy in safety net clinic communication.
The researchers investigated the associations between safety net clinician computer use and patient-provider communication for patients with limited health literacy (LHL) and limited English proficiency (LEP). They found that higher clinician computer use was associated with more biomedical focus with LEP/LHL patients, and clinician verbal dominance and lower ratings with patients with adequate English proficiency and health literacy.
AHRQ-funded; HS022561.
Citation: Ratanawongsa N, Barton JL, Lyles CR .
Computer use, language, and literacy in safety net clinic communication.
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2017 Jan;24(1):106-12. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocw062.
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Keywords: Communication, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Literacy, Clinician-Patient Communication, Health Information Technology (HIT)
Mirsky JB, Tieu L, Lyles C
Readability assessment of patient-provider electronic messages in a primary care setting.
The purpose of this study was to generate hypotheses about the readability of patient and provider electronic messages. It found that patients used more words in their initial e-mails compared to providers, but the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Levels (FKGLs) were similar, and 68 percent of provider messages were written below an FKGL = 8.
AHRQ-funded; HS023558; HS022408.
Citation: Mirsky JB, Tieu L, Lyles C .
Readability assessment of patient-provider electronic messages in a primary care setting.
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2016 Jan;23(1):202-6. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocv087.
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Keywords: Communication, Health Information Technology (HIT), Health Literacy, Primary Care, Clinician-Patient Communication
Hahn EA, Burns JL, Jacobs EA
Health literacy and patient-reported outcomes: a cross-sectional study of underserved English- and Spanish-speaking patients with type 2 diabetes.
The investigators examined associations between patient characteristics, health behaviors, and health outcomes and explored the role of health literacy as a potential mediator of outcomes. They found that health literacy was not associated with diabetes self-care, health status, or satisfaction with communication, and it did not mediate the effects of other factors on these outcomes. Diabetes self-efficacy was significantly associated with health behaviors and outcomes. The association between Spanish language preference and poorer health was not mediated by this group's lower health literacy.
AHRQ-funded; HS019335.
Citation: Hahn EA, Burns JL, Jacobs EA .
Health literacy and patient-reported outcomes: a cross-sectional study of underserved English- and Spanish-speaking patients with type 2 diabetes.
J Health Commun 2015;20 Suppl 2:4-15. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2015.1061071.
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Keywords: Communication, Diabetes, Health Literacy, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Heerman WJ, White RO, Barkin SL
Advancing informed consent for vulnerable populations.
The authors suggest an innovative approach that uses low health-literacy communication strategies and visual aids to augment and potentially replace the traditional approach to informed consent. This approach involves: (1) the use of effective health communication and low-literacy techniques, (2) the use of visual aids and graphics to promote understanding and guide the reader toward key study concepts, and (3) careful attention to child dissenting behaviors.
AHRQ-funded; HS022990.
Citation: Heerman WJ, White RO, Barkin SL .
Advancing informed consent for vulnerable populations.
Pediatrics 2015 Mar;135(3):e562-4. doi: 10.1542/peds.2014-3041..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Communication, Health Literacy, Obesity, Research Methodologies
Barton JL, Trupin L, Tonner C
English language proficiency, health literacy, and trust in physician are associated with shared decision making in rheumatoid arthritis.
The objective of this study was to examine patterns of perceived communication around decision making in 2 cohorts of adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The investigators found that nearly one-third of subjects reported suboptimal shared decision making communication (SDM) with their clinicians, regardless of cohort. Lower trust in physician was independently associated with suboptimal SDM communication in both cohorts.
AHRQ-funded; HS019209.
Citation: Barton JL, Trupin L, Tonner C .
English language proficiency, health literacy, and trust in physician are associated with shared decision making in rheumatoid arthritis.
J Rheumatol 2014 Jul;41(7):1290-7. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.131350..
Keywords: Arthritis, Clinician-Patient Communication, Communication, Decision Making, Health Literacy, Patient and Family Engagement
Barton JL, Trupin L, Tonner C
English language proficiency, health literacy, and trust in physician are associated with shared decision making in rheumatoid arthritis.
The objective of this study was to examine patterns of perceived communication around decision making in 2 cohorts of adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The investigators found that nearly one-third of subjects reported suboptimal shared decision making communication (SDM) with their clinicians, regardless of cohort. Lower trust in physician was independently associated with suboptimal SDM communication in both cohorts.
AHRQ-funded; HS019209.
Citation: Barton JL, Trupin L, Tonner C .
English language proficiency, health literacy, and trust in physician are associated with shared decision making in rheumatoid arthritis.
J Rheumatol 2014 Jul;41(7):1290-7. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.131350..
Keywords: Arthritis, Clinician-Patient Communication, Communication, Decision Making, Health Literacy, Patient and Family Engagement
Baur C, Brach C
AHRQ Author: Brach C
Pharmacy research on health literacy can contribute to national goals and health care system improvements.
Three key points about health literacy underscore the articles in this special issue: 1. Effective health communication utilizes both the spoken and written word; 2. A number of health literacy tools can help pharmacists implement health literacy practices; 3. Readability assessments can be a step on a path toward more productive provider–patient communication.
AHRQ-authored.
Citation: Baur C, Brach C .
Pharmacy research on health literacy can contribute to national goals and health care system improvements.
Res Social Adm Pharm 2013 Sep-Oct;9(5):498-502. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2013.06.012.
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Keywords: Healthcare Delivery, Communication, Health Literacy, Provider: Pharmacist