Intervention Leads to Increase in Lung Cancer Screenings

AHRQ Stats

Access more data on this topic in AHRQ's 2023 Chartbook on Patient Safety (PDF, 4 MB), plus additional AHRQ data infographics.

Today's Headlines:

• Intervention Leads to Increase in Lung Cancer Screenings.
• Grantee Profile Highlights Work of Li Zhou To Improve Drug-Allergy Alerts.
• AHRQ Plan Identifies Strategies To Optimize Health and Function Among Older Adults.
• Issue Brief Addresses Simulation To Improve Patient Safety.
• Register Now for Sept. 11 Webinar on Integrated Behavioral Health: The Journey to Becoming the Standard of Care.
• Consumer Surveys on Clinicians and Group Practices Valuable but Underused, Review Concludes.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Study Offers Insights on Patient-Centered Clinical Decision Support.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Intervention Leads to Increase in Lung Cancer Screenings

Lung cancer screening rates increased due to a multifaceted intervention, which included clinician reminders, shared decision-making tools and patient reminders, according to a new AHRQ-funded study published in JAMA Network Open. In a study of older patients in the Salt Lake City area with smoking history, the intervention improved lung cancer screening from 15.9 percent to 46.9 percent. The researchers noted that their findings highlight the effectiveness of structured interventions in improving early detection of and outcomes for lung cancer. Access the abstract.

Grantee Profile Highlights Work of Li Zhou To Improve Drug-Allergy Alerts

Li Zhou, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a lead investigator at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has focused her research on developing technological innovations to enhance clinical decision support and patient safety. With AHRQ funding, Dr. Zhou has conducted groundbreaking patient safety research on medication reconciliation, allergy documentation, drug-allergy alerts and natural language processing­—a branch of artificial intelligence that makes it possible for people to talk to machines. Access more information about Dr. Zhou’s work, as well as profiles of other AHRQ grantees.

AHRQ Plan Identifies Strategies To Optimize Health and Function Among Older Adults

A new AHRQ strategic plan details strategies to achieve five goals for health system transformation to optimize the health, functional status and well-being of older adults. The U.S. population is rapidly aging, and the health system is ill prepared to meet the needs of older adults. However, much of the morbidity and premature mortality associated with aging can be delayed or slowed by re-engineering healthcare delivery systems in ways that improve health outcomes, functional status and well-being. In addition, chronic conditions can be effectively managed, allowing people to live independently and contribute to their communities longer. Access the plan (PDF, 464 KB), which includes more than two dozen strategies to advance the health and well-being of older adults.

Issue Brief Addresses Simulation To Improve Patient Safety

Many organizations have invested in simulation capabilities but haven’t yet used these resources to improve patient safety. A new AHRQ issue brief, Simulation To Improve Patient Safety: Getting Started, describes why simulation can be a valuable asset, how to use simulation resources to improve patient safety and how to collaborate with simulationists. Access the issue brief (PDF, 886 KB), which includes examples of the positive impact of simulations implemented in a variety of patient care settings and practical strategies to advance patient safety through simulation and debriefing.

Register Now for Sept. 11 Webinar on Integrated Behavioral Health: The Journey to Becoming the Standard of Care

At an AHRQ webinar on Sept. 11 from 3 to 4 p.m. ET, members of the National Integration Academy Council (NIAC) will discuss the evolution of behavioral health integration and its increasing emergence as the standard of care. The panel will review the current state of behavioral health integration in primary care, provide an overview of its history and discuss the future of integration. The NIAC has served as the technical expert panel for AHRQ’s Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care since its founding in 2010. Access more information, including how to register for the webinar.

Consumer Surveys on Clinicians and Group Practices Valuable but Underused, Review Concludes

Healthcare providers widely and successfully use data from AHRQ’s Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Clinician and Group Survey to assess changes in their ratings and specific aspects of patient experience, but the data have untapped potential for studying consumer choice, a new AHRQ-funded literature review has found. Researchers found that healthcare providers are using the survey to assess a wide range of pre-post interventional changes in global ratings, such as overall provider ratings, and in specific aspects of patient experience, such as provider communication, access, courteous office staff and patient-centeredness. They concluded that healthcare providers value the survey as a means of assessing change, evaluating interventions and improving critical aspects of patient care experiences and healthcare delivery. 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:

• Typology of solutions addressing diagnostic disparities: gaps and opportunities.
• Medication administration in aged care facilities: a mixed-methods systematic review.
• GPT versus resident physicians — a benchmark based on official board scores.

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

Study Offers Insights on Patient-Centered Clinical Decision Support

Authors of a new AHRQ study called for new policies, processes, technologies and expertise to enhance patient-centered clinical decision support systems. In the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, the authors used literature reviews, expert interviews and model refinement to highlight new considerations for patient-centered clinical decision support policies, processes, procedures, technology and expertise. They identified seven key challenges and opportunities, including but not limited to managing patient-generated health data and patient-reported outcomes, educating patients on device use and integrating patient data into electronic health records. The authors said their findings highlight the importance of adapting healthcare systems to ensure effective PC-CDS implementation, aiming for long-term improvements in health outcomes. Access the abstract

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Reducing antimicrobial overuse through targeted therapy for patients with community-acquired pneumonia: a study protocol for a cluster-randomized factorial controlled trial (CARE-CAP). Deshpande A, Walker R, Schulte R, et al. Trials 2023 Sep 16;24(1):595. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

A virtual dissemination framework to inform and evaluate a neonatal Project ECHO (NeoECHO). Wyles CL, Shea K, Weiss A, et al. J Adv Nurs 2024 Jul;80(7):2977-87. Epub 2023 Dec 10. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Understanding the impacts of rural hospital closures: a scoping review. Mullens CL, Hernandez JA, Murthy J, et al. J Rural Health 2024 Mar;40(2):227-37. Epub 2023 Oct 11. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Health and economic value of eliminating socioeconomic disparities in US youth physical activity. Powell-Wiley TM, Martinez MF, Heneghan J, et al. JAMA Health Forum 2024 Mar;5(3):e240088. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Development and validation of the hospital-to-home-health transition quality (H3TQ) index: a novel measure to engage patients and home health providers in evaluating hospital-to-home care transition quality: a novel measure to engage patients and home health providers in evaluating hospital-to-home care transition quality. Arbaje AI, Hsu YJ, Keita M, et al. Qual Manag Health Care 2024 Jul-Sep;33(3):140-8. Epub 2024 Jun 26. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Patient and provider satisfaction with asynchronous versus synchronous telepsychiatry in primary care: a secondary mixed-methods analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Yellowlees PM, Burke MM, Gonzalez AD, et al. Telemed J E Health 2024 Apr;30(4):e1049-e63. Epub 2023 Nov 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Integrating transformative considerations and quantitative results through a participant selection joint display in explanatory sequential mixed methods studies. James TG, Dejonckheere M, Guetterman TC. J Mix Methods Res 2024 Jan;18(1):14-30. Epub 2022 Dec 27. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Using simulation modeling to inform intervention and implementation selection in a rapid stakeholder-engaged hybrid effectiveness-implementation randomized trial. Becker JE, Shebl FM, Losina E, et al. Implement Sci Commun 2024 Jun 24;5(1):70. Access the abstract on PubMed®.