AHRQ Views: Commemorating 35 Years as an Independent Science Agency

AHRQ Stats: Electronic Nicotine Use and Mental Health

44.1 percent of young adults in fair or poor mental health reported using an electronic nicotine product in 2021, compared with 25.1 percent of those who felt that their mental health was excellent. (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #554, Characteristics of Young Adults Aged 18-24 Who Had Ever Used an Electronic Nicotine Product, 2021.)

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Views: Commemorating 35 Years as an Independent Science Agency.
• AHRQ Highlights Diverse Resources During Patient Safety Awareness Week 2024.
• Studies Highlight Design Challenges in Trauma Rooms.
• Apply Now for Funding on Projects To Reduce Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antibiotic Resistance.
• March 14 National Advisory Council Meeting To Include Program Updates and Introduce New Members.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Explore Careers at AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Views: Commemorating 35 Years as an Independent Science Agency

Celebrating AHRQ’s 35th anniversary and its rich history of working with partners to advance the quality, safety and equity of healthcare delivery is the subject of a new AHRQ Views blog post by Director Robert Otto Valdez, Ph.D., M.H.S.A. AHRQ has thrived as a leader in health services research, an enterprise fundamental to advancing healthcare delivery and quality in the domains of safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency and equity. AHRQ’s 35th anniversary campaign, themed “Today’s Research, Tomorrow’s Healthcare,” epitomizes the agency’s commitment to delivering innovative solutions, tools and research that shape equitable patient outcomes both today and in the future. Future blog posts about AHRQ’s 35th anniversary will highlight activities and moments that have spurred breakthroughs and innovations for our healthcare systems nationwide. Access the blog post.

AHRQ Highlights Diverse Resources During Patient Safety Awareness Week 2024

AHRQ’s lead role in helping to protect patients from avoidable harms is highlighted during Patient Safety Awareness Week 2024. An AHRQ Views blog post by Director Robert Otto Valdez, Ph.D., M.H.S.A., and Medical Officer Stephen Raab, M.D., emphasizes AHRQ’s focus on reducing diagnostic errors. Agency initiatives include AHRQ’s Diagnostic Safety Centers of Excellence, a suite of diagnostic safety issue briefs, AHRQ-funded tools and a TeamSTEPPS training curriculum for improving communication for safer, more accurate and timely diagnoses. AHRQ’s patient safety activities also include:

• Launch of the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety, a public-private learning community intended to support improvements across healthcare delivery settings and within all types of healthcare systems.
• Publication of Making Healthcare Safer IV, a series of rapid evidence reports that consolidate information about practices that can improve safety across healthcare systems.
• The Survey on Patient Safety Culture Program (SOPS®), which offers resources to help healthcare organizations assess how their organizational culture promotes patient safety.

Studies Highlight Design Challenges in Trauma Rooms

Two AHRQ-funded studies revealed that physical and technological design of trauma rooms create challenges for clinical staff that impact patient safety. The studies, based upon a series of focus group sessions with trauma team members at six U.S. hospitals, found that clinicians may be challenged by workplace factors such as inconvenient locations of computed tomography scan equipment and excessive, uncontrolled noise and light. One study published in the HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal concluded that staffs’ control over environmental conditions may lead to a more efficient, more comfortable and safer environment. Another study published in Facilities found that unorthodox design approaches were associated with slowing the course of care and concluded that patient safety, provider technology needs and workflow efficiency should be considered when designing trauma rooms.

Apply Now for Funding on Projects To Reduce Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antibiotic Resistance

AHRQ is funding innovative research proposals to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria (CARB). Applications are due May 25 for demonstration and dissemination projects (R18) and June 5 for large research projects (R01). HAI projects in both grant categories should demonstrate new ways to detect, prevent and reduce HAIs. CARB projects should address ways to promote appropriate antibiotic use, reduce the transmission of resistant bacteria or prevent HAIs. The funding is available to support research in all healthcare settings: long-term care, ambulatory care, acute care hospitals and those focusing on transitions between care settings. AHRQ encourages potential applicants to consider research in healthcare delivery areas with demonstrated health inequities and to address those equity issues in their proposed projects.  

March 14 National Advisory Council Meeting To Include Program Updates and Introduce New Members

AHRQ’s National Advisory Council will meet virtually on March 14 from 11:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET to discuss recent agency accomplishments, the status of Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund investments, highlights from digital healthcare research activities, updates from the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety, and efforts to advance diagnostic excellence. The council provides recommendations to AHRQ's director and to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on priorities for a national health services research agenda. Access more information about the meeting, which will include new members:

• Peter B. Angood, M.D., F.R.C.S.(C), president and chief executive officer, American Association for Physician Leadership.
• Mason B. Emert, M.P.H., epidemiologist, Choctaw Nation Health Services Authority.
• Sharon Weidner Hickman, M.B.A., C.P.H.Q., founding principal and president, ChangeZen Consulting, LLC.
• Sunil Kripalani, M.D., M.Sc., professor of medicine; director, Center for Health Services Research; director, Center for Clinical Quality and Implementation Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
• Cari Levy, M.D., Ph.D., Goodstein Professor of Medicine; division head, geriatric medicine; director, Multidisciplinary Center on Aging, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine.
• Mary Beth Flynn Makic, Ph.D., A.P.R.N., professor, College of Nursing, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
• Michael L. Millenson, president, Health Quality Advisors, LLC.
• Joseph M. (Mario) Molina, M.D., former president and chief executive officer, Molina Healthcare.

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:

• What's going well: a qualitative analysis of positive patient and family feedback in the context of the diagnostic process.
• "Good care is slow enough to be able to pay attention": primary care time scarcity and patient safety.
• A systematic integrative review of specialized nurses' role to establish a culture of patient safety: a modelling perspective.
• Scaling the EQUIPPED medication safety program: traditional and hub-and-spoke implementation models.

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).

Explore Careers at AHRQ

Join the team that strives to improve healthcare for all Americans by investing in health systems research, creating strategies to support practice improvement and providing data and analytics to identify opportunities for improvement. Current vacancies include:

• Health Scientist Administrator, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety/Division of Quality Measurement and Improvement.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Refining a framework to enhance communication in the emergency department during the diagnostic process: an eDelphi approach. Manojlovich M, Bettencourt AP, Mangus CW, et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 2024 Jan 30. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Heterogeneity of benefit from earlier time-to-antibiotics for sepsis. Hechtman RK, Kipnis P, Cano J, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2024 Jan 23. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Generating actionable evidence for school-based mental health service delivery: public-academic partnership based evaluations. Kang-Yi CD, Kuriyan A, Kinkler G, et al. Community Ment Health J 2023 Nov;59(8):1588-600. Epub 2023 Jun 8. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Advancing research on teams and team effectiveness in implementation science: an application of the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework. McGuier EA, Kolko DJ, Stadnick NA, et al. Implement Res Pract 2023 Jan-Dec;4:26334895231190855. Epub 2023 Jul 27. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Dashboarding to monitor machine-learning-based clinical decision support interventions. Hekman DJ, Barton HJ, Maru AP, et al. Appl Clin Inform 2024 Jan;15(1):164-9. Epub 2023 Nov 29. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

A randomized controlled trial of the dissemination of an mHealth intervention for improving health outcomes: the WiseApp for Spanish-speakers living with HIV study protocol. Olaya F, Brin M, Caraballo PB, et al. BMC Public Health 2024 Jan 17;24(1):201. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Older adult patients and care partners as knowledge brokers in fragmented health care. Wust KL, Carayon P, Werner NE, et al. Hum Factors 2024 Mar;66(3):701-13. Epub 2022 May 13. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Impact of healthcare location concordance on receipt of preventive care among children whose parents have a substance use and/or mental health diagnosis. Martwick J, Kaufmann J, Bailey S, et al. J Prim Care Community Health 2024 Jan-Dec;15. Access the abstract on PubMed®.