New Toolkit Can Improve Post-Surgery Complications and Enhance Patient Recovery

Editor’s note: Due to the July 4 holiday, AHRQ News Now will not publish next week.

AHRQ Stats: Prescribed Medicine Use for Commonly Treated Conditions

Between 2019 and 2020, the number of people who filled prescriptions to treat acute bronchitis and other upper respiratory infections declined by 44 percent from 22.8 million to 12.8 million, and the number who filled a prescription for infectious diseases (excluding COVID-19) declined by 27.2 percent from 17.5 million to 12.8 million. (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #548, Treated Prevalence of Commonly Reported Health Conditions, 2016 to 2020.)

Today's Headlines:

• New Toolkit Can Improve Post-Surgery Complications and Enhance Patient Recovery .
• Using AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW Model To Reduce Heart Disease Risk Could Have Meaningful Health Benefits.
• Grantee Profile on Kathleen Walsh, M.D., M.Sc., Highlights Work To Prevent Pediatric Medication Errors .
• COVID-19 Infections and Hospitalizations Associated With Financial Distress.
• Strategic Communication Can Counteract Health Misinformation.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

New Toolkit Can Improve Post-Surgery Complications and Enhance Patient Recovery

The AHRQ Toolkit for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery addresses common surgical complications such as surgical site and urinary tract infections, and venous thromboembolism. The toolkit, created for surgical teams by surgeons, was tested in more than 300 hospitals nationwide and includes evidence-based enhanced recovery pathways for colorectal, gynecologic, hip and knee replacement, hip fracture and emergency general surgery. Overall, patients’ length of time in the hospital after various procedures was reduced significantly. Printable education materials for patients and their families are also available and can be downloaded at no cost.

Using AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW Model To Reduce Heart Disease Risk Could Have Meaningful Health Benefits

A new AHRQ-funded study estimated that widespread use of a large-scale intervention to support primary care practices in heart disease prevention could have meaningful life-saving benefits. The study, published in Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, combined data from practices using AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW initiative with data from patients ages 40 to 79 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk predictions to estimate the impact of EvidenceNOW for an estimated 4 million patients who might benefit from “ABCS” interventions (aspirin, blood pressure control, cholesterol and smoking cessation). Researchers found that the interventions could prevent more than 3,100 ASCVD events over 10 years and avoid $150 million in 90-day direct medical costs. They concluded that even small preventive care improvements can have meaningful life-saving benefits at the population level. Access the abstract.

Grantee Profile on Kathleen Walsh, M.D., M.Sc., Highlights Work To Prevent Pediatric Medication Errors

AHRQ’s latest grantee profile features Kathleen Walsh, M.D., M.Sc., director of the Patient Safety Research Core at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Walsh is working to prevent medication errors and adverse drug events among children, particularly those with chronic conditions. Medication errors that occur outside the hospital can be lethal for children with chronic conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Dr. Walsh has identified factors that contribute to medication errors and injuries in children with chronic conditions. Access the profile of Dr. Walsh and those of other AHRQ grantees.

COVID-19 Infections and Hospitalizations Associated With Financial Distress

An analysis of more than 132,000 individuals’ credit reports showed adverse financial outcomes were significantly more common after a COVID-19 infection (1–3 percentage point increase), with an even more significant increase (5–8 percentage points) among hospitalized patients. Researchers supported by AHRQ and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reviewed credit report data from commercially insured COVID-19 survivors to compare individuals whose credit data were measured before their COVID-19 infection with individuals whose data were measured after their COVID-19 infection. This study, published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, may be the first to use credit report data to examine the impact of COVID-19 infection and/or hospitalization on credit outcomes. Access the abstract.

Strategic Communication Can Counteract Health Misinformation

A new paper published in the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives describes how strategic communications support for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force helps improve health through evidence-based recommendations on preventive services. The article suggests four key principles for using clear communication to counteract health misinformation: emphasizing clarity and transparency in communications; using a systematic communications framework; pursuing proactive media relations; and engaging partners and stakeholders. The Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel, administered by AHRQ, that makes evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services. 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:

• Developing electronic clinical quality measures to assess the cancer diagnostic process.
• International perspectives on modifications to the surgical safety checklist.
• Racial, Ethnic, and Payer Disparities in Adverse Safety Events: Are there Differences across Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades?

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).

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

Technical brief: Measuring Healthcare Organization Characteristics in Cancer Care Delivery Research

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Racial-ethnic composition of primary care practices and Comprehensive Primary Care Plus initiative participation. Rubio K, Fraze TK, Bibi S, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2023 Mar 20. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Current evidence for infection prevention and control interventions in emergency medical services: a scoping review. Jenkins JL, Hsu EB, Zhang A, et al. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2023 Jun;38(3):371-7. Epub 2023 Mar 29. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Use of patient experience scales differs by education and Asian race/ethnicity: evidence from a vignette study. Martino SC, Haas A, Hays RD, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2023 Apr 18. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Support for use of Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems communication items among seriously ill patients. Hays RD, Walling AM, Sudore RL, et al. J Palliat Med. 2023 Apr 20. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Urgent referrals from primary care to dermatology for lesions suspicious for skin cancer: patterns, outcomes, and need for systems improvement. Pagani K, Lukac D, Olbricht SM, et al. Arch Dermatol Res. 2023 Jul;315(5):1397-400. Epub 2022 Nov 10. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Racial and ethnic disparities in opioid access and urine drug screening among older patients with poor-prognosis cancer near the end of life. Enzinger AC, Ghosh K, Keating NL, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2023 May 10;41(14):2511-22. Epub 2023 Jan 10. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Improving the quality of written discharge instructions: a multisite collaborative project. Desai AD, Tolpadi A, Parast L, et al. Pediatrics. 2023 May;151(5):e2022059452. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Resuscitation of traumatic maternal cardiac arrest: a case report and summary of recommendations from Obstetric Life Support. De Assis V, Shields AD, Johansson A, et al. Trauma Case Rep. 2023 Apr;44:100800. Epub 2022 Feb 18. Access the abstract on PubMed®.