Physicians Report Lasting Trauma From COVID-19 Experiences

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Today's Headlines:

• Physicians Report Lasting Trauma From COVID-19 Experiences.
• Final Report to Congress To Improve Patient Safety Outlines Strategies To Speed Progress.
• AHRQ Study Finds Deaf and Hard of Hearing at High Risk of Lower-Quality Care.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Now Available: SOPS Ambulatory Surgery Center Survey 2021 Database Report.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Physicians Report Lasting Trauma From COVID-19 Experiences

Although some emergency department physicians who had served at COVID-19 outbreak epicenter locations reported that they had not yet fully processed their experiences, nearly all developed heightened anxiety and other symptoms during the pandemic. Researchers interviewed 26 emergency physicians who worked in New York City and the metro Boston region when their COVID-19 outbreaks peaked between September 2020 and February 2021 to identify their emotional experiences and coping strategies. As transmission precautions created an impersonal environment, staff increasingly accepted emotional roles when family members were prevented from visiting sick loved ones. Evolving guidance from leadership left physicians anxious, frustrated and uncertain about how best to protect themselves and their families. While several respondents felt they were coping poorly, many relied on communication with each other to manage their stress. Access the abstract in the Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Final Report to Congress To Improve Patient Safety Outlines Strategies To Speed Progress

A final report on strategies to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors has been delivered to Congress by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in consultation with AHRQ. Required by the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, the report was made available for public review and comment and review by the National Academy of Medicine. It outlined several strategies to accelerate progress in improving patient safety, including using analytic approaches in patient safety research, measurement and practice improvement to monitor risk; implementing evidence-based practices into real-world settings through clinically useful tools and infrastructure; encouraging the development of learning health systems that integrate continuous learning and improvement in day-to-day operations; and encouraging the use of patient safety strategies outlined in the National Action Plan by the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety. Access the final report (PDF, 1.16 MB), “Strategies to Improve Patient Safety: Final Report to Congress Required by the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005.”  

AHRQ Study Finds Deaf and Hard of Hearing at High Risk of Lower-Quality Care

Ineffective communication between providers and deaf and hard-of-hearing patients who use American Sign Language (ASL) could put the latter at high risk for lower-quality care, according to an AHRQ-supported study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. The authors present barriers to improving health equity for deaf and hard-of-hearing people because ASL is misclassified by large-scale informatics networks such as the Patient-Centered Clinical Outcomes Research Network and the U.S. Census Bureau. Researchers highlight areas where clinical research networks, electronic health record (EHR) developers, healthcare institutions and users can improve to promote health equity research and patient-centered care for this population, including timely and appropriate identification and recording of patient language preferences in the EHR. 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:

• Understanding preventable deaths in the geriatric trauma population: analysis of 3,452,339 patients from the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services Database.
• Effect of automated unit dose dispensing with barcode scanning on medication administration errors: an uncontrolled before-and-after study.
• Effectiveness of using simulation in the development of clinical reasoning in undergraduate nursing students: a systematic review.

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).

Now Available: SOPS Ambulatory Surgery Center Survey 2021 Database Report

Results from AHRQ’s Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) Ambulatory Surgery Center Survey (ASC) Database Report are now available. The new report includes results from the SOPS ASC survey. The database serves as an important resource for patient safety culture improvement. Learn more about the results from participating ASCs in the 2021 database report.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Analysis of consistency in emergency department physician variation in propensity for admission across patient sociodemographic groups. Khidir H, McWilliams JM, O'Malley AJ, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2021 Sep;4(9):e2125193. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Using electronic health records in longitudinal studies: estimating patient attrition. Huguet N, Kaufmann J, O'Malley J, et al. Med Care 2020 Jun;58(Suppl 1):S46-S52. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Quality of care for youth hospitalized for suicidal ideation and self-harm. Connell SK, Burkhart Q, Tolpadi A, et al. Acad Pediatr 2021 Sep-Oct;21(7):1179-86. Epub 2021 May 28. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Treatment and follow-up care associated with patient-scheduled primary care telemedicine and in-person visits in a large integrated health system. Reed M, Huang J, Graetz I, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2021 Nov;4(11):e2132793. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Outcomes of a presurgical optimization program for elective hernia repairs among high-risk patients. Delaney LD, Howard R, Palazzolo K, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2021 Nov;4(11):e2130016. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Time trends in patient characteristics and in-hospital adverse events for primary total knee arthroplasty in the United States: 2010-2017. Halawi MJ, Gronbeck C, Metersky ML, et al. Arthroplast Today 2021 Oct;11:157-62. Epub 2021 Sep 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Sustainment of proactive physical therapy for individuals with early-stage Parkinson's disease: a quality improvement study over 4 years. MacDonald J, Doyle L, Moore JL, et al. Implement Sci Commun 2021 Sep 27;2(1):111. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Nonprofit hospital community benefits: collaboration with local health departments to address the drug epidemic. Santos T, Lindrooth RC. Med Care 2021 Sep;59(9):829-35. Access the abstract on PubMed®.