The quality improvement team is reviewing quarterly incident reports and evaluating the effect of Six Sigma strategies on the quantity of medication
... [Show More] errors over the past two years. The team hypothesizes a continuous reduction in medical errors for each quarter.
The sample consists of patient clinical and demographic characteristics. Unfortunately, causation cannot be determined from the data available.
Which research method should be used to test the team's hypothesis? - ANSWER-time series
A hospital researcher has access to one year of hospital emergency department claims data. The researcher is investigating the association of race on the timeliness of delivery of care. The sample includes information on patient demographics, insurance information, and emergency department factors. Due to patient confidentiality, the sample does not include patient clinical information and outcomes.
Which research method should be used? - ANSWER-Cross Sectional
Which type of data analysis could be used in quantitative research? - ANSWER-Reporting the distribution of results or outcomes
What is a characteristic of qualitative research methods? - ANSWER-Introduces subjectivity to data collection
Many physician practices now utilize an electronic health record (EHR) system that includes a secure messaging feature. Some of these practices have extended their contact with patients by conducting virtual visits between people with diabetes and nurses who are certified diabetes educators. The remote technology includes the ability to monitor blood glucose data to determine if these values are within goal range. After six months, the results of the blood glucose levels for the group participating in the virtual visits were evaluated.
Which research method was used? - ANSWER-Cross-sectional
A policy analyst is interested in determining if the prospective payment system (PPS) has improved hospital efficiency over time during the past ten years. The sample for analysis consists of ten years of data after the introduction of the PPS and includes measures of efficiency and other relevant control variables. The analyst hypothesizes that hospital efficiency should have increased each year after the PPS was implemented.
Which research method should the analyst use? - ANSWER-Time Series
A researcher wants to determine whether continuity of care is improved with the use of coordination of care documents among primary care physicians and specialists. The researcher decides to review various published studies to assess the clinical effectiveness of these documents on patient outcomes.
Which research method is being used? - ANSWER-Meta-analysis
The state public health researcher wants to begin a five-year initiative to coordinate immunizations for children in the foster care system. The results will be compared to previous years to measure the effectiveness of the initiative.
Which research method should be used to study this initiative? - ANSWER-Pre/post-study
Using publicly reported data from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, researchers want to examine the relationship between 30-day readmissions and mortality rates for patients with heart failure at five facilities. Before this can be done, researchers need to estimate mortality rates and readmission rates from heart failure.
Which statistical technique should be used to calculate the estimated rates? - ANSWER-Regression analysis
Researchers want to determine if a particular risk factor or risk factors are associated with the frequency for nonelective readmission within 30 days among patients with diabetes in a metropolitan area. The variables of interest include age, gender, race/ethnicity, and insurance status.
Which statistical technique should be used? - ANSWER-Regression analysis
A hospital researcher is interested in investigating the association between hospital ownership (i.e., government, investor, and not-for-profit) on overall hospital quality scores.
Research Methods
A cross-sectional data set of all urban hospitals from eight states is used in this study. The data were obtained from various administrative databases: Medicare Hospital Cost Report Information System, the American Hospital Association, and the Area Health Resource File. Descriptive statistics are used to summarize the data. An ordinary least squares regression is used to test the relationship between ownership status and hospital quality while controlling for hospital and market characteristics.
Which component is missing from these research methods? - ANSWER-Research design
A hospital researcher is interested in the association between patient satisfaction and hospital market share. The researcher hypothesizes that increased patient satisfaction will lead to an increase in hospital market share.
Research Methods
A longitudinal study of seven years will be conducted to assess the change in hospital market share over time. Urban hospitals from the United States that have more than 100 beds will be included in the analysis. The data set will include hospital characteristics and market characteristics. Administrative data will be obtained from the American Hospital Association's Annual Survey of Hospitals, the Area Health Resources File, and the Hospital Compare website. The variables included in the data set will control for other factors that may impact hospital patient satisfaction. Statistical significance will be set at α = 0.05 for the analysis. The results of the analysis will be of interest to hospital administrators and policy makers.
Which component is missing from the research methods? - ANSWER-Analysis plan
A large urban hospital has implemented a new patient registration system to reduce patient complaints, streamline the process, and make it easier to understand.
The hospital had been monitoring patient wait times for registration prior to implementing this change.
Which aspect of wait time was analyzed in the application of descriptive statistics applied for this scenario? - ANSWER-An average of wait times was analyzed.
A surgical center is experiencing patient attrition. The center has received bad reviews online. One area of complaints is that the center is dirty in common areas. The center conducted a survey to ascertain what the major complaints were. The center has decided to outsource its maintenance in an effort to improve patient satisfaction scores.
The median patient satisfaction scores were determined from the survey.
How were descriptive statistics applied in this scenario? - ANSWER-To determine the 50th percentile of patient satisfaction scores
An administrator at an established hospital decided to create a new data collection plan for the quality improvement initiative because the former plan was not acceptable.
One concern with the old plan was with the timeliness of the data and with missing data elements associated with wait times and communication.
How were descriptive statistics applied in this scenario? - ANSWER-To identify the average patient satisfaction score [Show Less]