Development and validation of a standardized blood culture contamination definition and metric dashboard for a large health care system.

Objectives: Blood culture contamination is a major problem in health care, with significant impacts on both patient safety and cost. Initiatives to reduce blood culture contamination require a reliable, consistent metric to track the success of interventions. The objective of our project was to establish a standardized definition of blood culture contamination suitable for use in a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) national data query, then to validate this definition and query.

A Rapid Assessment of Disaster Preparedness Needs and Resources during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This year has seen the emergence of two major crises, a significant increase in the frequency and severity of hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known as to how each of these two events have impacted the other. A rapid qualitative assessment was conducted to determine the impact of the pandemic on preparedness and response to natural disasters and the impact of past experiences with natural disasters in responding to the pandemic.

Detection Rate of Colorectal Cancer or Precancer Adenoma by Colonoscopy After 1, 2, or 3 Positive Results via Fecal Immunochemical Testing.

Background: Single-vial fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) is an accepted method of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. The available 3-vial FIT data set allows for comparison of colonoscopy results using various screening methods.

Objective: To determine the optimal number of vials for a strong FIT-screening program by examining whether using only a single vial impacts the use of colonoscopy for CRC screening.

Validation of the Rapid Estimate for Adolescent Literacy in Medicine Short Form (REALM-TeenS).

Background: This study was designed to develop and validate a brief adolescent health literacy assessment tool (Rapid Estimate of Adolescent Literacy in Medicine Short Form [REALM-TeenS]).

Methods: We combined datasets from 2 existing research studies that used the REALM-Teen ( = 665) and conducted an item response theory analysis. The correlation between scores on the original 66-item REALM-Teen and the proposed REALM-TeenS was calculated, along with the decision consistency across forms with respect to grade level assignment of each adolescent and coefficient α.

Impact of Health Literacy-directed Colonoscopy Bowel Preparation Instruction Sheet.

Objectives: To improve patient colonoscopy bowel preparation with a newly developed simplified instruction sheet in a safety-net hospital system.

Methods: Bowel preparation quality was compared in a retrospective chart review of 543 patients, 287 of whom received standard instructions (9th grade reading level) between November 2015 and February 2016, and 256 of whom received simplified instructions (6th grade level) between March and May 2016. Instructions were mailed to all patients.

Third Annual Fecal Occult Blood Testing in Community Health Clinics.

Objectives: Our objective was to determine the effectiveness of 3 approaches to encourage completion of fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) in the third year of the intervention.

Methods: Between 2008 and 2011, a quasi-experimental intervention was conducted in 8 predominantly rural Federally Qualified Health Centers. Clinics were randomly assigned to enhanced care (screening recommendation and FOBT kit mailed annually), education (patients additionally received a health literacy appropriate pamphlet and simplified FOBT instructions), or nurse support (same as education but with nurse follow-up).

Final Results of a 3-Year Literacy-Informed Intervention to Promote Annual Fecal Occult Blood Test Screening.

This three arm study was designed to make CRC screening with FOBTs more accessible, understandable and actionable for patients cared for in predominantly rural Federally Qualified Health Centers. Patients in an enhanced version of usual care received an annual CRC recommendation and FOBT kit; those in the education arm additionally received brief literacy and culturally appropriate education and those in the nurse arm received the education by a nurse manager who followed up by telephone. Baseline FOBT rates in this population were 3 %.