In the United States, patients with chronic conditions experience disparities in health outcomes across the care continuum. Among patients with multiple sclerosis, diabetic retinopathy, and lung cancer, there is a lack of evidence summarizing interventions to improve care and decrease these disparities. The aim of this rapid literature review was to identify interventions among patients with these chronic conditions to improve health and reduce disparities in screening, diagnosis, access to treatment and specialists, adherence, and retention in care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: A mission-critical aspect of learning health systems (LHSs) is the provision of evidence-based practice. One source of such evidence is provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) through rigorous systematic reviews, termed evidence reports that synthesize available evidence on nominated topics of interest. However, the AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) program recognizes that the production of high-quality evidence reviews does not guarantee or promote their use and usability in practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccess to treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) in rural areas within the United States remains a challenge. Providers must complete 8-24 h of training to obtain the Drug Addiction Treatment Act (DATA) 2000 waiver to have the legal authority to prescribe buprenorphine for OUD. Over the last 4 years, we executed five dissemination and implementation grants funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to study and address barriers to providing Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment (MOUD), including psychosocial supports, in rural primary care practices in different states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlobal migration from Africa to more economically developed regions such as the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia has reached unprecedented rates in the past five decades. The size of the African immigrant population in the United States has roughly doubled every decade since 1970. However, research has not kept up with the growing size of this vulnerable population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: While all healthcare workers are exposed to occupational hazards, workers in sub-Saharan Africa have higher rates of occupational exposure to infectious diseases than workers in developed countries. Identifying prevalence and context of exposure to blood and bloodborne pathogens may help guide policies for prevention.
Objective: This systematic review examined occupational exposure rates to blood and bloodborne pathogen among healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Background: Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that preferentially targets the spinal cord and optic nerves. Increasing disability is accrued with each inflammatory attack. Disability has been shown to be an independent predictor of poor quality of life in those with NMOSD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: To prevent patient harm, health care organizations are adopting practices from other complex work environments known as high-reliability organizations (HRO).
Purpose: The purpose was to explore differences in manifestations of HRO principles on hospital units with high and low safety performance.
Methods: Focus groups were conducted on units scoring high or low on safety measures.
Objectives: In the last 20 years, there have been numerous successful efforts to improve patient safety, although recent research still shows a significant gap. Researchers have begun exploring the impact of individual level factors on patient safety culture and safety outcomes. This review examines the state of the science exploring the impact of professional burnout and engagement on patient safety culture and safety outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study explored similarities and differences in the views on team membership and leadership held by nurses in formal unit leadership positions and direct care nurses. We used a mixed-methods approach and a maximum variance sampling strategy, sampling from units with both high and low safety behaviors and safety culture scores. We identified several key differences in mental models of care team membership and leadership between formal leaders and direct care nurses that warrant further exploration.
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