AHRQ Views Blog: Agency Support for Telementoring Boosts Battle Against COVID-19

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Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Views Blog: Agency Support for Telementoring Boosts Battle Against COVID-19.
• Study Reveals Increased Bleeding Risk When Taking Warfarin With NSAIDs.
• Special Healthcare Needs in Children Associated With Food Insufficiency, Emergency Room Visits.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Featured Impact Case Study: Medication Errors Avoided in Vermont Clinics Using AHRQ Guide.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Views Blog: Agency Support for Telementoring Boosts Battle Against COVID-19

AHRQ’s support of Sanjeev Arora, M.D., and his successful efforts to expand the use of telementoring to educate clinicians about COVID-19 are highlighted in a new AHRQ Views blog post by Director Gopal Khanna, M.B.A. Telementoring has emerged as a valuable strategy to connect specialty physicians with primary care physicians treating patients in medically underserved areas. Dr. Arora, a liver specialist at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, developed the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes model, or Project ECHO, as a way for specialists to remotely mentor physicians treating hepatitis C patients in rural areas. Today, Project ECHO has provided daily training sessions to more than 200,000 healthcare professionals on many aspects of treating COVID-19. Access the blog post. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address and select “AHRQ Views Blog.”

Study Reveals Increased Bleeding Risk When Taking Warfarin With NSAIDs

Patients who take both warfarin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have twice the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding as patients taking warfarin alone, according to an AHRQ-funded study published in Thrombosis and Haemostasis. The authors reviewed 11 studies, published between 1993 and 2013, to evaluate bleeding risks associated with these common drugs. Based on the study’s findings, the authors cautioned against patients taking warfarin and NSAIDs concurrently due to the increased risk of gastrointestinal and general bleeding. Access the abstract.

Special Healthcare Needs in Children Associated With Food Insufficiency, Emergency Room Visits

Children with special healthcare needs are more likely to experience household food insufficiency, less-than-excellent health status and increased emergency room visits compared with other children, according to a new AHRQ-funded study published in Public Health Nutrition. Further, the study found that these special needs children, defined as those at increased risk for chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional conditions, experience these higher risks despite being slightly more likely to have health insurance coverage than children without special needs. Researchers examined data for nearly 72,000 children aged 0–17 years, including about 16,300 children with special needs. They suggested that policy solutions aimed at addressing social ills may be needed to support this vulnerable population. Access the abstract.

Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network

AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include:

• Frequency and types of patient-reported errors in electronic health record ambulatory care notes.
• Quality & safety in the time of coronavirus--design better, learn faster.
• Systemic defenses to prevent intravenous medication errors in hospitals: a systematic review.

Review additional new publications in PSNet’s current issue or access recent cases and commentaries in AHRQ’s WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web).

Featured Impact Case Study: Medication Errors Avoided in Vermont Clinics Using AHRQ Guide

Asking patients to work with providers to create an up-to-date medication list is the “first line of defense against medication errors,” according to an AHRQ safety guide. Find out how three Vermont clinics used AHRQ’s Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families to reduce risk in a new Impact Case Study.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Assessment of nursing home reporting of major injury falls for quality measurement on Nursing Home Compare. Sanghavi P, Pan S, Caudry D. Health Serv Res 2020 Apr;55(2):201-10. Epub 2019 Dec 29. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Missed care relates to nurse job enjoyment and intention to leave in neonatal intensive care. Smith JG, Rogowski JA, Lake ET. J Nurs Manag 2019 Dec 31. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Distinguishing children's hospitals from non-children's hospitals in large claims data. Piper KN, Baxter KJ, McCarthy I, et al. Hosp Pediatr 2020 Feb;10(2):123-8. Epub 2020 Jan 3. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Tool to aid patients in selecting a liver transplant center. Schaffhausen CR, Bruin MJ, Chu S, et al. Liver Transpl 2020 Mar;26(3):337-48. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Association of obstructive sleep apnea with severity of patients hospitalized for acute asthma. Oka S, Goto T, Hirayama A, et al. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2020 Feb;124(2):165-70.e4. Epub 2019 Nov 14. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Assessing the safety of electronic health records: a national longitudinal study of medication-related decision support. Holmgren AJ, Co Z, Newmark L, et al. BMJ Qual Saf 2020 Jan;29(1):52-9. Epub 2019 Jul 18. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Validation of a parent-reported hospital-to-home transition experience measure. Desai AD, Zhou C, Simon TD, et al. Pediatrics 2020 Feb;145(2):pii: e20192150. Epub 2020 Jan 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Early stroke recognition and time-based emergency care performance metrics for intracerebral hemorrhage. Colton K, Richards CT, Pruitt PB, et al. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis 2020 Feb;29(2):104552. Epub 2019 Dec 12. Access the abstract on PubMed®.