Translating research into practice: voluntary reporting of medication errors in critical access hospitals.

Context: Low service volume, insufficient information technology, and limited human resources are barriers to learning about and correcting system failures in small rural hospitals.

Purpose: This paper describes the implementation of and initial findings from a voluntary medication error reporting program developed by the Nebraska Center for Rural Health Research (NCRHR) to overcome these barriers in 6 Nebraska critical access hospitals (CAHs).

Methods: Participating Nebraska CAHs mailed copies of medication error reports to the NCRHR monthly for entry into a database.

Health status and access to care among rural minorities.

This paper provides a review of the scholarly and applied literature published between 1970 and 1993 on health and health care access problems among racial and ethnic minority group members living in rural U.S. areas.

The role of uninsurance and race in healthcare utilization by rural minorities.

Objective: To examine the independent effects of minority status, residence, insurance status, and income on physician utilization, controlling for general health status and the presence of acute or chronic health problems. Of special interest was the question of utilization differences among rural minority populations, as compared with urban non-Latino whites.

Data Source: Data from the 1992 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).

Insurance status among HIV+ Nebraskans.

Objectives: (1) To measure the rates of insurance in a population of HIV+ status. (2) To test an hypothesis that persons with AIDS are more likely to be uninsured than those who are HIV+ without AIDS. (3) To test the hypothesis that persons who are HIV+ experience difficulties maintaining their health insurance.