Publications by authors named "Sonja Williams"

In 2021, the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Health Center (NAMCS HC) Component modernized its data collection and began collecting clinical visit data from health centers using transmission of electronic health record (EHR) data. With this redesign, there are potential cost implications for a health center to participate. Beginning in 2021, a one-time set-up fee (i.

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Background: The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program guidelines emphasize environmental control as an integral part of asthma management; however, limited national-level data exist on how clinicians implement environmental control recommendations.

Objective: We analyzed data on clinicians' self-reported use of recommended environmental control practices in a nationally representative sample (n = 1645) of primary care physicians, asthma specialists, and advanced practice providers from the National Asthma Survey of Physicians, a supplemental questionnaire to the 2012 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

Methods: We examined clinician and practice characteristics as well as clinicians' decisions and strategies regarding environmental trigger assessment and environmental control across provider groups.

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As part of modernization efforts, in 2021 the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) began collecting electronic health records (EHRs) for ambulatory care visits in its Health Center (HC) Component. As a result, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)needed to adjust the approaches used in the sampling design for the HC Component. This report provides details on these changes to the 2021-2022 NAMCS.

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Objective-This report demonstrates the ability of the National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS) to examine delivery hospitalizations involving severe maternal morbidity (SMM). These data are unweighted and not nationally representative, so the results are intended to illustrate the unique capability of NHCS to track patients across hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits rather than provide nationally representative estimates of these outcomes.

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Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is one of the most common chronic diseases in children. While clinical outcomes for patients with juvenile JIA have improved, the underlying biology of the disease and mechanisms underlying therapeutic response/non-response are poorly understood. We have shown that active JIA is associated with distinct transcriptional abnormalities, and that the attainment of remission is associated with reorganization of transcriptional networks.

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Background: Little is known about specialist-specific variations in guideline agreement and adoption.

Objective: To assess similarities and differences between allergists and pulmonologists in adherence to cornerstone components of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program's Third Expert Panel Report.

Methods: Self-reported guideline agreement, self-efficacy, and adherence were assessed in allergists (n = 134) and pulmonologists (n = 99) in the 2012 National Asthma Survey of Physicians.

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Although primary care clinicians provide >60% of U.S. asthma care, no nationally representative study has examined variation in adherence among primary care groups to four cornerstone domains of the Expert Panel Report-3 asthma guidelines: assessment/monitoring, patient education, environmental assessment, and medications.

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This report demonstrates the use of the National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS) for the study of pneumonia inpatient hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits. The analysis is based on unweighted data of inpatient and ED encounters from the 2014 NHCS and is intended to illustrate the capabilities of the survey, including the ability to link inpatient hospitalizations or ED visits across settings and with other data sources, once hospital participation allows for nationally representative estimates.

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Background: The 2007 Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma provide evidence-based recommendations to improve asthma care. Limited national-level data are available about clinician agreement and adherence to these guidelines.

Objective: To assess clinician-reported adherence with specific guideline recommendations, as well as agreement with and self-efficacy to implement guidelines.

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In 2010, total knee replacement was the most frequently performed inpatient procedure on adults aged 45 and over. In the 11-year period from 2000 through 2010, an estimated 5.2 million total knee replacements were performed.

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Septicemia and sepsis are serious bloodstream infections that can rapidly become life-threatening. They arise from various infections, including those of the skin, lungs, abdomen, and urinary tract. Patients with these conditions are often treated in a hospital’s intensive care unit.

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Obesity disproportionately affects African American adolescents, particularly girls. While ethnically targeted marketing of unhealthful food products contributes to this disparity, it is not known how African Americans perceive the food marketing environment in their communities. Qualitative methods, specifically photovoice and group discussions, were used to understand perceptions of African American adults and teen girls regarding targeted food marketing to adolescent girls.

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Objectives: This report presents national estimates of hospital inpatient care in the United States during 2007 and selected trend data. Numbers and rates of discharges, diagnoses, and procedures are shown by age and sex. Average lengths of stay are presented for all discharges and for selected diagnostic categories by age and by sex.

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The present study used the discounting procedure to characterize choice behaviors regarding hypothetical sexual outcomes. Eighty-six adult undergraduate students completed computerized delay and probability discounting tasks concerning hypothetical money and hypothetical sexual activity. Consistent with other discounting findings, hyperbolic and hyperbola-like decay models described individual and group median indifference point data well.

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We describe a modification of a previously described assay for the quantification of alpha-synuclein in naive cerebrospinal fluid, which allows for a more efficient quantification of alpha-synuclein. Detection limit of the assay is 3.8 ng/ml and the assay is linear until 300 ng/ml.

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