AHRQ Views Blog: New National Action Plan Aimed at Keeping Patients and Healthcare Workers Safe

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Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Views Blog: New National Action Plan Aimed at Keeping Patients and Healthcare Workers Safe.
• Review Concludes End-of-Life Research on Patient and Caregiver Experiences Should Focus on Hospice Strategies.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Register Now: AHRQ National Web Conference on Applying Advanced Analytics in Clinical Care.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Views Blog: New National Action Plan Aimed at Keeping Patients and Healthcare Workers Safe

A new national action plan for safer care and reduction of harm to patients and caregivers is the subject of a new AHRQ Views blog post. The report, Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety, is the result of two years of work by the 27-member National Steering Committee for Patient Safety. In their blog post, committee co-chairs Jeffrey Brady, M.D., M.P.H., and Tejal K. Gandhi, M.D., M.P.H., explain that the report and a companion implementation resource guide provide the latest tactics, tools and resources for immediate implementation. The new resources are built on four foundational areas: culture, leadership and governance; patient and family engagement; workforce safety; and learning systems. Dr. Brady is director of AHRQ’s Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, and Dr. Gandhi is chief safety and transformation officer at Press Ganey Associates and a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Access the blog post. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address and select “AHRQ Views Blog.”

Review Concludes End-of-Life Research on Patient and Caregiver Experiences Should Focus on Hospice Strategies

More research is needed to identify effective approaches for improving patient and caregiver end-of-life care experiences, according to an AHRQ-funded study published in American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care. The authors assessed peer-reviewed studies and gray literature published from January 2000 to March 2019 on adult end-of-life care to examine palliative care experiences across settings. They found that evidence for improving patient and caregiver end-of-life care experiences is focused on palliative care experiences, and that evidence on improving hospice care experiences is lacking. Additional research is needed, the authors concluded, particularly in light of the aging U.S. population. They suggested that research should go beyond overall care experiences to include specific aspects of palliative and hospice care. 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:

• Human-based errors involving smart infusion pumps: a catalog of error types and prevention strategies.
• Chronic hospital nurse understaffing meets COVID-19: an observational study.
• Expert consensus on currently accepted measures of harm.
• The enabling, enacting, and elaborating factors of safety culture associated with patient safety: a multilevel analysis.

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).

AHRQ National Web Conference on Applying Advanced Analytics in Clinical Care

An AHRQ webinar on Oct. 14 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. ET will highlight how advanced analytics can be used in clinical care. Panelists will feature findings from research projects that applied machine learning and natural-language processing techniques to effectively analyze unstructured text information and process data from multiple sources to identify patients who would benefit from treatments or interventions. Eligible providers can earn up to 1.5 continuing education/continuing medical education contact hours for participating in the live webinar.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Comparing breast and abdominal subspecialists' follow-up recommendations for incidental liver lesions on breast MRI. DiPiro PJ, Alper DP, Giess CS, et al. J Am Coll Radiol 2020 Jun;17(6):773-8. Epub 2020 Jan 28. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Associations between prostate cancer-related anxiety and health-related quality of life. Erim DO, Bennett AV, Gaynes BN, et al. Cancer Med 2020 Jun;9(12):4467-73. Epub 2020 Apr 23. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Using simulation modeling to guide the design of the Girl Scouts Fierce & Fit program. Ferguson MC, Morgan MJ, O'Shea KJ, et al. Obesity 2020 Jul;28(7):1317-24. Epub 2020 May 7. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Use of electronic health records by older adults, 85 years and older, and their caregivers. Ramirez-Zohfeld V, Seltzer A, Xiong L, et al. J Am Geriatr Soc 2020 May;68(5):1078-82. Epub 2020 Mar 11. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Conversations between Latina mothers and their child's mental health provider: An observational study of shared decision-making regarding pediatric patient mental health needs. Hale KL, Wallace DD, Blanco-Durán D, et al. Patient Educ Couns 2020 Jan;103(1):96-102. Epub 2019 Aug 12. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Early information needs of adolescents and young adults about late effects of cancer treatment. Greenzang KA, Fasciano KM, Block SD, et al. Cancer 2020 Jul 15;126(14):3281-8. Epub 2020 May 4. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Reasons patients choose the emergency department over primary care: a qualitative metasynthesis. Vogel JA, Rising KL, Jones J, et al. J Gen Intern Med 2019 Nov;34(11):2610-19. Epub 2019 Aug 19. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Association of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act with insurance status, cancer stage, and timely treatment among patients with breast, colon, and lung cancer. Takvorian SU, Oganisian A, Mamtani R, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2020 Feb 5;3(2):e1921653. Access the abstract on PubMed®.