Contents

• About Research Activities

Feature Story

• AHRQ's clinical care tools help clinicians ensure better and safer care
• From the Director

Patient Safety and Quality

• Hospital-acquired infections dramatically increase trauma patients' risk of in-hospital death and hospital stay
• Trigger tools have potential to detect adverse events following outpatient surgery
• Electronic order sets can help treatment conform to guidelines for antibiotic use after surgery
• Mental demands of pediatric hospital pharmacy staff have varying effects on likelihood of medication errors and adverse events
• High performance on quality measures linked to financial benefits for nursing homes

Chronic Disease

• Patients with heart failure are older, have more illnesses, and take more medications than earlier
• Drugs to treat hepatitis B may not prevent patients from liver disease later
• The likelihood of bacterial blood infections among patients with HIV has risen slightly in recent years
• Caregivers for advanced cystic fibrosis patients want to discuss intensive treatments and symptom relief

Disparities/Minority Health

• Studies examine possible disparities surrounding implantable cardioverter defibrillators
• Having a usual source of care as well as insurance reduces unmet health needs

Child/Adolescent Health

• Parents and primary care physicians are satisfied with children's use of nonurgent emergency department services
• A usual source of care may be more important than insurance on children's receipt of preventive health counseling
• When primary care providers apply fluoride varnish, young Medicaid-insured children have fewer cavities
• Impact of self-esteem and academic achievement on substance use and sexual initiation differs among boys and girls

Women's Health

• Providers miss opportunities to prevent depression in and discuss birth control with women with unplanned pregnancies

Outcomes/Effectiveness Research

• Primary anterior cervical fusion has lower in-hospital complication rates and deaths than posterior cervical fusion

Health Care Workforce

• Opportunities to pursue bachelor's degrees may be limited for nurses in rural hospitals
• Unionized hospital RNs slightly less satisfied with work than nonunionized RNs

Agency News and Notes

• New ad campaign urges patients to consider medical treatment options
• Certain Americans pay more than 10 percent of their family income to pay for medical expenses
• Employees' share of health plan premium costs up dramatically
• Six of every 10 rural emergency departments visits made by poor patients
• Up to $500 million in Affordable Care Act funding will help health providers improve care

Announcements

• Signups soar for AHRQ's popular CME courses
• AHRQ offers interactive tool to analyze national and State health care data
• 2009 Nationwide Inpatient Sample released
• New brief outlines strategies to put patients at the center of primary care
• New resources to care for community-dwelling patients during emergency events
• Emergency Preparedness Resource Inventory updated

Research Briefs

• Research Briefs
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• Healthcare 411
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