AHRQ today released a new publication, Next Steps After Your Diagnosis: Finding Information and Support, to help patients who have been diagnosed with an illness learn more about their condition and treatment options.
AHRQ has published a new Spanish-language booklet to help Hispanic women recently diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer understand their surgery choices. Breast cancer is the leading type of cancer among Hispanic women.
AHRQ today released a new publication, Guide to Health Care Quality: How To Know It When You See It, to help consumers identify high-quality health care. This booklet is part of AHRQ's new consumer education campaign to help people take a more active role in their own health care.
Research shows that just 14.1 percent of all medical group practices use an electronic health record system, and just 11.5 percent have an EHR that is fully implemented for all physicians at all practice locations. Adoption of EHR systems is an important step in improving the quality of U.S. health care.
A new report provides public health officials and emergency response teams with information to help them reopen former hospitals to care for survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The information includes lists of supplies and medications and checklists to assess readiness of facility, staffing, and patient transport.
Primary care physicians should only refer women with a specific family history of breast or ovarian cancer for genetic counseling and DNA testing, according to the US Preventive Services Task Force. Routine referrals may lead to many false-positives and unnecessary procedures.
Although daily consumption of soy protein found in tofu and other soybean products may result in a small reduction in LDL and frequency of hot flashes, a scientific review found too little evidence to make definite conclusions.
Researchers found that over 20 percent of the patients admitted to intensive care units, medical intensive care units (MICU) and coronary critical care units (CCU) experienced an adverse event.
An increasing percentage of black enrollees in Medicare managed care plans are being screened for breast cancer or treated for diabetes or heart disease in accordance with nationally recognized quality measures, reducing health disparities.
Hispanics make up 15 percent of the U.S. population and almost 29 percent of the uninsured. In addition, nearly 12 percent (8.5 million) of children under age 18 were uninsured. These and other data available from MEPS.
The number of Americans having weight-loss surgery more than quadrupled between 1998 and 2002"“from 13,386 to 71,733"“with part of the increase driven by a 900 percent rise in operations on patients between the ages of 55 and 64.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force calls for all pregnant women, not just those identified as at risk, to be screened for HIV infection. Recommended treatment can dramatically reduce the chances that an infected mother will transmit HIV to her infant.
AHRQ's "Guide to Clinical Preventive Services 2005" highlights current recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. These evidence-based recommendations for primary care clinicians address screening tests, counseling, and preventive medications for adults and children.
AHRQ will award over $8 million in funding for 15 Partnerships in Implementing Patient Safety grants that are designed to help clinicians, facilities, and patients implement evidence-based patient safety practices.
New Web-based tool allows communities to better prepare for emergencies. It will help them assess their regional supply of critical resources, prepare for incident response, estimate gaps, and support decisions for future resource allocation.
One in five patients hospitalized for heart attack suffers from major depression, and these patients may be more likely than other heart attack patients to need hospital care again within a year for a cardiac problem and three times as likely to die from a future attack or other heart problems, according to a new evidence report.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a new recommendation against the routine use of estrogen to prevent chronic conditions such as heart disease, stroke and osteoporosis by postmenopausal women who have undergone a hysterectomy.
A new report outlines guidelines for officials on how to plan for delivering health and medical care in a mass casualty event.
In recognition of National Nurses Week, May 6-12, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today is releasing a new tool that will give nurses evidence-based information that they can use to help their patients quit smoking.
Depression is as common in women during pregnancy as it is after giving birth. Health care providers and patients may fail to recognize depression during pregnancy because signs of depression like tiredness, trouble sleeping, emotional changes, and weight gain also occur with pregnancy.
Routine use of episiotomy for uncomplicated vaginal births does not provide immediate or longer term benefits for the mother, and does not achieve any of the goals it is commonly believed to achieve, according to new research from AHRQ.
New data from AHRQ shows declines both in the percentage of children who were given antibiotics to treat otitis media and the percentage whose parents sought treatment for them.
PSNet is a new Web tool from AHRQ that provides a national "one-stop" portal of resources for improving patient safety and preventing medical errors.
While computerized physician order entry (CPOE) is expected to significantly reduce medication errors, systems must be implemented thoughtfully to avoid facilitating certain types of errors.
A new research synthesis from AHRQ estimates that the nation could save nearly $2.5 billion a year by preventing hospitalizations due to severe diabetes complications.
AHRQ released its second annual reports on the quality of and disparities in health care in the United States. Both provide a benchmark on the current state of care and track the progress being made.
Men between the ages of 65 and 75 who are or have been smokers should have a one-time ultrasound to screen for abdominal aortic aneurysm. The majority of people with ruptured aneurysms die before reaching a hospital.
First-year medical interns who work shifts of longer than 24 hours are more than twice as likely to have a car crash leaving the hospital and five times as likely to have a "near miss" incident on the road as medical interns who work shorter shifts.
Men between the ages of 19 and 29 are the group least likely to wear a seat belt while driving or riding in a car and are three times as likely not to use their seat belt as women of the same age, according to new data from AHRQ.
AHRQ, in partnership with the Council of State Governments, today released Diabetes Care Quality Improvement: A Resource Guide for State Action and its companion workbook, both of which are designed to help states assess the quality of diabetes care and develop quality improvement strategies.
Melatonin supplements may be effective when used in the short term to treat problems falling asleep, but do not help people sleep longer, according to evidence review. But overall, the benefit is limited and long-term safety is unknown.
The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture is a new tool to help hospitals and health systems evaluate employee attitudes about patient safety in their facilities or within specific units.
The rate of serious medical errors committed by hospital interns fell significantly when their continuous work schedule was limited to 16 hours, according to two studies. These are the first to show reducing sleep deprivation also reduces medical errors.
Prehypertension, an elevation in blood pressure that previously was still considered normal, actually is a risk factor for significant illness that causes death, nursing home stays or hospital stays each year for people age 45 and older.
For extremely obese patients who have tried and failed to lose weight with exercise and diet, surgery may be more effective for weight reduction. It also can improve some obesity-related health problems that put their lives at greater risk.
In response to the growing epidemic of childhood obesity in this country, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has developed two DVDs to teach children and their parents about smart eating and physical activity, and to educate clinicians about the best ways to prevent and treat obesity in children.
A new planning guide funded by AHRQ is designed to help communities nationwide make sure that all Americans have needed drugs and vaccines in the event of a natural epidemic or bioterrorist attack.
About two-thirds of chronically ill adults who cut back on their medications because of the cost don't tell their doctors they're planning to stop. Approximately 35 percent of patients said they never discussed medication costs with their clinicians.
Nearly half of pregnant women who had received medications other than vitamins may be taking drugs that the FDA classifies as having no human evidence of safety for use during pregnancy or that evidence has shown can harm a developing fetus.
Patients who took the antibiotic erythromycin at the same time as certain calcium-channel blockers, certain anti-fungal drugs, and some anti-depressants had a five-times greater risk of sudden cardiac death than patients who did not take the drugs at the same time.
Some programs designed to increase physical activity show continued effects for at least 3 months after they end, according to existing evidence. The evidence also shows that exercise programs can improve cancer patients' symptoms and quality of life.
Children in hospitals often experience adverse patient safety events"”such as medical injuries or errors"”in the course of their care, with those in vulnerable populations, including children under 1 year old, at highest risk.
Children who are younger than 5 years old should be screened in the primary care setting for vision problems, including lazy eye, crossed eyes, and near-and far-sightedness, according to a new recommendation issued today from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Increasing patients' co-payments for prescription medications leads to decreases in their use of eight classes of therapeutic drugs, according to a new study co-funded by AHRQ.
Coordinating resources across local and state lines "“ also known as regionalization"“may benefit some bioterrorism preparedness and response capabilities, but more research is needed to find the best ways of coordinating those resources.
The Preventive Services Selector, an application for Palm Pilots and other PDAs, is designed to help clinicians quickly and easily search for which preventive services to provide -"” or not provide -"” to patients based on their age and gender.
While Americans paid out of pocket for approximately one-half of all dental care expenses in 2000, people age 65 and older paid more than three-quarters of their dental expenses out of pocket, according to new trend data.
Pediatricians who practice in areas where the water supply is deficient in fluoride should prescribe oral fluoride supplements to preschool children over the age of 6 months, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Long chain omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish or fish oil supplements, are confirmed to reduce the risk of heart attack and other problems related to heart and blood vessel disease, as well as overall risk of death, according to new evidence reports.
Hip fracture patients should be operated on within 24 hours of hospital admission because it reduces pain, shortens hospital stays, and may limit the probability of major complications occurring, such as pneumonia and arrhythmias.
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right