Research Activities, December 2010, No. 364

About Research Activities

Feature Story

AHRQ awards $34 million to expand fight against healthcare-associated infections

Safety and Quality of Care

Surgical infection prevention measures reduce postoperative infections when used together, but not singly
Physicians can use 10 strategies to manage abnormal test result alerts in electronic health records
Rescuer experience with out-of-hospital emergency intubation is often associated with improved patient survival

Access to Care

Nationwide survey shows free clinics provide care to nearly 2 million patients
Access to care for patients with lupus affected by several local factors

Child/Adolescent Health

Fever over 100°F following multiple infant vaccinations is rare

Women's Health

While treatments for miscarriage are safe, providers do not always offer them all to their patients

Chronic Disease

Brand-name drugs not better than generics for controlling epilepsy
Fragmentation of care for complex diabetes patients may be associated with greater use of the emergency department
For hypertensive patients with diabetes, blood pressure drops quicker with more frequent interactions with clinicians
Despite their helpfulness to guiding care, home blood pressure readings are rarely documented in routine clinical care
Uncontrolled asthma events among Massachusetts patients declined between 2002 and 2007
Patients with inherited cancer syndrome need help with decisions and long-term support from their surgeons

HIV/AIDS Research

Antiretroviral switching strategies to treat HIV improve survival and are cost-effective in resource-limited countries
Dependent elderly people are adversely affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa

Elderly/Long-Term Care

Risk factors for cognitive decline still murky

Disparities/Minority Health

Race/ethnic origin of mother and father influence whether the mother develops gestational diabetes
Men and blacks less likely to be aware of cancer screening benefits
Blacks have longer PSA screening intervals than whites
Telephone counseling helps Korean Americans who speak little English improve hypertension management

Agency News and Notes

Four million hospital admissions potentially unnecessary
Hospitalizations for medication and illicit drug-related conditions on the rise among Americans aged 45 and older
Hospital charges for 1 in 20 hospital stays average $18,000 a day
Older Americans getting pneumonia shots, but not enough
Evidence report finds modest and short-term benefit of complementary and alternative therapy for back and neck pain

Announcements

HCUP Releases 2008 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample
New guide helps patients take care of themselves after hospital discharge
Effective Health Care Program develops new papers, continuing medical education courses, and faculty slides
New report proposes research agenda to transform health care based on principles of industrial system engineering
Three new Medicaid-CHIP case studies now available
New Health IT Common Format for adverse event reporting
New ACTION II partnerships awards

Research Briefs

Research Briefs
Healthcare 411
Subscribe to AHRQ's Electronic Newsletter
Visit the AHRQ Patient Safety Network Web Site
Follow AHRQ News on Twitter