Research Activities, November 2011, No. 375

Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

AHRQ's annual conference focuses on innovation and collaboration
From the Director

Disparities/Minority Health

Blacks and patients at hospitals with a high percentage of black patients more likely to suffer adverse events
Among patients with diabetes, racial/ethnic discrimination by health care providers is uncommon
Blacks have higher rates of pituitary adenoma

Patient Safety and Quality

Nearly 1 in 10 outpatient computerized prescriptions contains errors
Nurses in hospital units with a higher proportion of short-term patients take longer to respond to patient call lights

Primary Care

Primary care model helps treat underserved patients with hepatitis C virus infection

Prevention

Fecal occult blood tests and followup need to be better targeted to healthy older adults

Chronic Disease

Brief psychotherapy helps multiple sclerosis patients with insomnia and depression
Study finds regional differences in physicians' recommendations of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators

Health Information Technology

Physicians who use electronic health records more intensively are more likely to use patient registries to improve care
Parents are satisfied with telemedicine care for their child's obesity

Child/Adolescent Health

Children are commonly exposed to ionizing radiation from medical diagnostic imaging procedures
Pediatric emergency department visits surged during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, but few children were hospitalized
Recent trends in hospital use by children and youths are a mixed bag—lower for teen pregnancies, much higher for skin infections

Agency News and Notes

Blood infections most costly hospital care in 2009
Updated report highlights hospitals' progress in reducing bloodstream infections
AHRQ initiative encourages better two-way communication between clinicians and patients
Off-label use of atypical antipsychotics not supported by evidence for some conditions
Hospital readmissions for COPD highest among black patients
Uncertainty surrounds use of terbutaline to prevent preterm birth

Announcements

Report finds DMARDs effective in treating juvenile arthritis
AHRQ director helps consumers navigate the health care system in a new advice column on the Web
Updated GERD research reviews and summaries available
Brief on multidisciplinary pain programs for chronic noncancer pain available
New AHRQ white paper helps decisionmaking and consistency in public reporting

AHRQ Publication No. 12-RA002
Current as of November 2011

---

Internet Citation:

Research Activities Newsletter. November 2011, No. 375. AHRQ Publication No. 12-RA002. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/nov11/

---

open here to see the abstracts:
Research Activities, November 2011, No. 375