Open Communication, Involvement in Quality Improvement Reduces Burnout Among Nurses, Study Finds

AHRQ Stats: Mental Health Emergency Department Visits

Despite no significant change in mental health emergency department visits occurring in adults in the same time frame, those for children aged 0–17 years old increased by 24.6 percent between 2016 and 2018. (Source: AHRQ 2022 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report. [PDF, 15.5 MB])

Today's Headlines:

• Open Communication, Involvement in Quality Improvement Reduces Burnout Among Nurses, Study Finds.
• AHRQ Grantee Prevents Harm by Analyzing and Redesigning Surgical Staff Workflows.
• Research Funding Opportunities From AHRQ.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• AHRQ Seeks Input on Development of The National Action Alliance to Advance Patient Safety.
• Deadline Extended to Jan. 23 for Participating in Healthcare System Challenge Competition .
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Open Communication, Involvement in Quality Improvement Reduces Burnout Among Nurses, Study Finds

Open communication among nurses and greater involvement in quality improvement efforts were related to not feeling burnout, a new AHRQ-funded study has found. In the study, published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing, researchers surveyed nurses at an urban pediatric hospital and found that 27 percent of them reported burnout. Nurses who had more confidence in patient experience measurement, received frequent patient experience performance reports, felt included in quality improvement and experienced quality improvement efforts that were integrated into patient care reported not being burned out. More open communication among nurses and unit-level teamwork were also associated with not being burned out, whereas a larger quality improvement workload was associated with burnout. Access the abstract.

AHRQ Grantee Prevents Harm by Analyzing and Redesigning Surgical Staff Workflows

AHRQ’s latest grantee profile features Kenneth Catchpole, Ph.D., a professor of human factors in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. His research focuses primarily on developing evidence-based strategies to prevent surgical harm using a human factors approach. Dr. Catchpole identified 30 sources of potential harm in surgical sterilization processes. In addition, he developed novel graphic designs to reduce anesthesia medication errors. Check out Dr. Catchpole’s profile and the profiles of other AHRQ grantees.

Research Funding Opportunities From AHRQ

Health services researchers committed to improving the quality, safety and equity of healthcare can explore a variety of AHRQ funding opportunities to support this work. Notice of Funding Opportunities includes Research Grants (R series), Career Development Awards (K series) and Research Training and Fellowships (T & F series). Current opportunities include:

• AHRQ and PCORI Learning Health System Embedded Scientist Training and Research Centers (P30). AHRQ and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute invite applications from qualified institutions to create Learning Health System Embedded Scientist Training and Research (LHS E-STaR) Centers. The centers will support the professional development of scientists to conduct research that accelerates progress towards an integrated learning health system. Application deadline: March 24.
• AHRQ Announces Interest in Healthcare Associated Infections and Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Research. This Special Emphasis Notice informs the research community of AHRQ’s continued interest in, and available funding for, supporting innovative research seeking to reduce the burden of healthcare-associated infections and to address the growing threat posed by antimicrobial resistant organisms. Access information about submission deadlines.
• AHRQ Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award (K01). This program helps ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained scientists is available in appropriate scientific disciplines to address the nation's health services research needs. It provides support and “protected time” to individuals with a research doctoral degree for an intensive, supervised research career development experience in health services research. Access information about submission deadlines.

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:

• Sources of nurse-sensitive inpatient safety improvement.
• Pursuit of "endpoint diagnoses" as a cognitive forcing strategy to avoid premature diagnostic closure.
• Are the World Health Organization's patient safety learning objectives still up-to-date: a group concept mapping study.

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).

AHRQ Seeks Input on Development of The National Action Alliance to Advance Patient Safety

On behalf of HHS, AHRQ is seeking public comment by Jan. 26 about the development of The National Action Alliance to Advance Patient Safety to advance patient and workforce safety. The National Action Alliance is intended to support improvements across healthcare delivery settings and between settings of care. It will welcome all healthcare systems, including public, not-for-profit and for-profit health systems; rural, suburban and urban systems; and systems focused on caring for diverse populations. The request follows a Nov. 14, 2022, event at which HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra convened a listening session that included chief executive officers of the country's largest healthcare systems, board members, organizational patient safety leaders and patient and family safety advocates. Access the Request for Information, including questions intended to be addressed.

Deadline Extended to Jan. 23 for Participating in Healthcare System Challenge Competition

A new Jan. 23 deadline has been set for health systems to enter AHRQ’s challenge competition exploring the feasibility and resources and infrastructure needed to integrate real-world healthcare system data into AHRQ’s systematic review findings. Incorporating unpublished healthcare system data into systematic review findings may be particularly valuable when systematic review results are limited by the number of research studies, or only include studies with narrow patient populations. The competition’s top award winner could earn up to $200,000. Access more information about the challenge and how to enter.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Primary care research is hard to do during COVID-19: challenges and solutions. Holtrop JS, Davis MM. Ann Fam Med 2022 Nov-Dec;20(6):568-72. Epub 2022 Nov 29. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Rapid and deferred help seeking among African American parents of children with emotional and behavioral difficulties. Richmond J, Adams LB, Annis IE, et al. Psychiatr Serv 2022 Dec 1;73(12):1359-66. Epub 2022 Jun 9. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Primary care physician perspectives on the influence of patient values, health priorities, and preferences on clinical decision-making for complex patients with multimorbidity: a qualitative study. Schuttner L, Lee JR, Hockett Sherlock S, et al. Risk Manag Healthc Policy 2022 Nov 16;15:2135-46. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Electronic surveillance of patient safety events using natural language processing. Ozonoff A, Milliren CE, Fournier K, et al. Health Informatics J 2022 Oct-Dec;28(4):14604582221132429. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

The impact of infectious diseases consultation for children with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. Whittington KJ, Ma Y, Butler AM, et al. Pediatr Res 2022 Dec;92(6):1598-1605. Epub 2022 Aug 18. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Effect of a patient decision aid on preferences for colorectal cancer screening among older adults: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial. Dalton AF, Golin CE, Morris C, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2022 Dec 1;5(12):e2244982. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Emergency department condition acuity, length of stay, and revisits among deaf and hard-of-hearing patients: a retrospective chart review. James TG, Miller MD, McKee MM, et al. Acad Emerg Med 2022 Nov;29(11):1290-1300. Epub 2022 Aug 5. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Beyond housing for health: using flexible funds to improve maternal and child health. Stransky ML, Fuchu P, Prendergast K, et al. J Urban Health 2022 Dec;99(6):1027-32. Epub 2022 Oct 13. Access the abstract on PubMed®.