Health Services Research

Health Services Research

Mission
To advance emergency care through diverse projects
in health services research

Overview

The Health Services Research Program (HSR) includes both observational and interventional studies. Examples include:

  1. Studies based on, or derived from, the National Emergency Department Inventory (NEDI) project (e.g., NEDI-USA, NEDI-State), and
  2. Analyses of emergency care in large administrative datasets (e.g., AHA, KID, Medicare, NEDS, NHAMCS, NHDS, NIS, SEDD/SID)
Major Research Themes
  • Health insurance
  • Patient safety
  • Access to emergency care (e.g., what/where are EDs; findERnow app)
  • ED workforce (including MLPs), Choosing Wisely
  • Opioid epidemic
  • Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator (PECC)
  • Telehealth
  • Hospital networks (eg, stroke transfers)
  • COPD readmissions
  • Health disparities
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Active Projects

NEDI-USA
2022
Adverse Social
Determinants
of Health (aSDoH)
Screening
ED Infection
Control
NEDI-IHS
2022
PECC and
Quality of Care
ED
Workforce
NEDI-
International
National ED
Telehealth
EMS
Workforce


Past Initiatives

NEDI-New England 2018 surveyed EDs in all 6 New England states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The survey collected information regarding ED characteristics, staffing, electronic resources, consultant availability, adverse social determinants of health, and opioid management for the year 2018 (conducted in 2019). This study was a follow-up to an original study on New England EDs in 2014 (conducted in 2015). For more information about NEDI-NE, please contact us at emnet@partners.org.

Select publications from 2014 NEDI-New England:

1. Weiner SG, Raja AS, Bittner JC, Curtis KM, Weimersheimer P, Hasegawa K, Espinola JA, Camargo CA Jr. Opioid-related policies in New England emergency departments. Acad Emerg Med 2016; 23: 1086-1090. PMID: 27098615

2. Raja AS, Venkatesh A, Mick N, Zabbo C, Hasegawa K, Espinola JA, Bittner JC, Camargo CA Jr. “Choosing Wisely” imaging recommendations: Initial implementation in New England emergency departments. West J Emerg Med 2017; 68: 461-466. PMID: 28435496

3. Zachrison KS, Hayden EM, Schwamm LH, Espinola JA, Sullivan AF, Boggs KM, Raja AS, Camargo CA Jr. Characterizing New England emergency departments by telemedicine use. West J Emerg Med 2017; 18: 1055-1060. PMID: 29085537

The Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) study surveyed a nationally representative sample of US EDs in order to identify positive deviants whose successful interventions and practices against healthcare associated infections can be used to generate evidence-based infection control policies, strategies, and toolkits for other EDs nationally. For more information, contact Dr. Jay Schuur.

The National ED Safety Study (NEDSS) was a multicenter study on patient safety in US emergency departments. For more information, please contact Ashley Sullivan.

Example publication: 
Sullivan AF, Camargo CA Jr, Cleary PD, Gordon JA, Guadagnoli E, Kaushal R, Magid DJ, Rao SR, Blumenthal D. The National Emergency Department Safety Study: Study rationale and design. Acad Emerg Med 2007; 14: 1182-1189. 18045895

The CHIP trial was a multicenter before-after trial of Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) outreach among ED patients. For additional information, contact Drs. James Gordon or Carlos Camargo.

Primary publication:
Gordon JA, Emond JA, Camargo CA Jr. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP): A multicenter trial of outreach through the emergency department. Am J Public Health 2005; 95: 250-253. 15671460