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URMC » Ph.D. Programs » Health Services Research » About the Program » Research

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    • Translating Research into Practice and Policy
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Patient Safety and Quality

The research of several of our faculty provides the opportunity for both pre- and post-doctoral students to receive training about patient safety and quality. There are currently three studies on which they will be able to receive training about examining risks to patient safety, their root causes, and possible effective system approaches to prevent the occurrence of errors:

1. Helena Temkin-Greener’s study funded by the Healthy Living Foundation, Inc. to assess end-of-life practice patterns in nursing homes aimed at promoting more effective and higher quality care;
2. Peter Veazie’s NIH-supported research to develop a Web-based lab to study the decision to use antidepressants for the elderly (This study develops the capacity to study how race and gender influence the decision to use antidepressants.); and
3. Katia Noyes’ study examining the effect of supplemental nurses on the quality of hospital care including frequency of medical errors.

Training about the use of information technology to reduce errors and increase efficiency can take place in relation to the PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) Data Analysis Center (PDAC), which Dr. Temkin-Greener directs. Nearly 40 PACE organizations from across the U.S. submit their electronic administrative and diagnostic data, which are then used to identify quality improvement opportunities. Training on coordination of care across multiple settings can occur on via research conducted via past and current NIA R01 funding that has developed and validated tools assessing the effectiveness of care coordination and other domains measuring work performance in ambulatory and long-term care settings.

Medication management in ambulatory settings is being studied under PDAC research contract with the National PACE Association. This involves examining the management of medications in a frail, chronically ill ambulatory population. The opportunity for training relating to the impact of organizational, payment, and market forces on the occurrence of adverse events exists for two of Dr. Temkin-Greener’s studies:

1. An NIA funded project to identify practice characteristics associated with better risk-adjusted health outcomes (functional status, self-assessed health, and mortality) in PACE (she is co-PI), and
2. An NIA funded study to assess the relationship between direct care workers’ teamwork and risk-adjusted quality of care measures in nursing homes (she is PI).

Dr. Bruce Friedman can provide research training on coordination of care across multiple settings and patient-centered care using data from the Medicare Primary and Consumer-Directed Care Demonstration. Finally, the opportunity for training in patient-centered care is present in Dr. Peter Veazie’s research on the effectiveness of a graphical decision dashboard in supporting informed patient decisions.