Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality AHRQ

This agency is a part of the US. Department of Health and Human Services. The main mission of AHRQ is to improve the safety, quality, and effectiveness of health care for American people. It organizes patient safety activities, serves as a clearinghouse for safety information, provides grants to other organizations, publishes guidelines for evidence-based or best practices, and so on [5]. 

In partnership with data organizations in 37 states, AHRQ sponsors the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), a data bank of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). The HCUP is a federal-state-industry partnership that provides all discharge-related data from over 990 hospitals (i.e., about 8 million annual hospital stays) [5]. The NIS is the largest all-payer inpatient care data bank in the United States, and it can be used to derive national estimates of inpatient care. By using the data from this data bank, the AHRQ has been able to provide complication rates and risk-related data, even for quife rare surgical procedures, such as bariatric surgery [6]. 

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Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (2002a) Translating Research Into Practice (TRIP)-II, www.ahrq.gov/research/triip2fac.htm (accessed May 24, 2002). 

HSTAT is a free, Web-based resource that provides access to full-text documents used in healthcare decision-making.14 These documents include clinical practice guidelines, quick-reference guides for clinicians, consumer health brochures, evidence reports and technology assessments from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), as well as AHRQ s Put Prevention Into Practice.15 Simply search by isobutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (or synonyms) at the following Web site http //text.nlm.nih.gov. 

To Err Is Human contains a four-part plan for decreasing the number of medical errors, and each part has implications for the pharmacy profession. To provide leadership and a research focus for patient safety. Part one recommends the creation of a center for patient safety within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Pharmacy organizations and pharmacists have the opportunity to contribute by including the study of medical errors in their applied research agendas. Using their expertise, pharmacists can provide input to the national goals, their content, and professional responsibilities for medicahon safety. ... 

Healthcare projects are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and Office of Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH). 

Around 2004 the first safety culture tools designed for healthcare began to appear. Maity of these tools are in the form of survey instruments or questioimaires, the two most well-known being the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSPSC) developed by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ - Sexton et al. 2006). Both instruments are described in detail within the book and illustrated with... 

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ 2012). 2012 User Comparative Database Report Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. AHRQ, Rockville, MD. Available at http //www.ahrq.gov/qual/hospsurveyl2/ (last accessed on 14 June 2013). 

It appears that the modern patient safety movement started in 1991 with the publication of the results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study in the New England Journal of Medicine [2-4], In the study, the medical records of 30,000 patients hospitalized in acute care hospitals in New York State in 1984 were examined. In 1996, the American Medical Association announced the formation of the National Patient Safety Foundation [2], In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine released its report entitled "To Err Is Human Building a Safer Health System" [5]. The report stated that medical errors are causing 44,000-98,000 preventable deaths annually in the United States. In 2001, the United States Congress appropriated 50 million per year for patient safety research to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) [2],... 

In 2008, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) reported that preventable medical-related injuries in the United States are on the rise (i.e., about 1% a year ) [10]. 

Mitchell, P. H., Defining Patient Safety and Quality Care, in Patient Safety and Quality An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses, edited by R. G. Hughes, AHRQ Publication No. 08-0043, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, Maryland, 2008, pp. 1-5. 

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