Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

33 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT Patient portal users 50% more likely to get flu shot, study finds By Gabrielle Masson P atients who use online platforms linked to EHRs are far more likely to take preventive health measures, like getting a flu shot or checking blood pressure, than patients who don't use patient portals, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Researchers analyzed 2014-16 data from 10,000 patients age 50 and older at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia. ey found roughly 59 percent of patients used the health system's online por- tal. Portal users had a 50 percent higher chance of receiving the flu shot and were twice as likely to get their blood pressure checked. Researchers also found portal users were younger and had higher in- comes than nonusers. e proportion of Caucasian patients was signifi- cantly higher in portal users (73 percent) than in nonusers (53 percent). "We did see some healthcare access issues," lead author Jing Huang, PhD, assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a news release. "ere is substantial work that still needs to be done in order to get more patients — and patients from a wider range of popula- tions — to use these kinds of online healthcare services." ough researchers found portal use was associated with increased pre- ventive health behaviors, they did not find meaningful differences in the prevalence of chronic illness. n 1,100+ healthcare organizations recognized for blood pressure control By Mackenzie Bean T he American Medical Association and Amer- ican Heart Association recognized 1,183 health systems and physician practices for their efforts to control patients' blood pressure. The recognition is based off self-reported blood pressure control rates healthcare organizations submitted through AMA and AHA's Target: BP Recognition Program. This year, 46 percent of healthcare organizations achieved a "Gold Status" recognition, meaning they achieved blood pressure control rates of 70 percent or higher. Of the organizations that submitted data in 2018 and 2019, 57 percent improved their blood pressure control rates this year. Sixty-nine organizations also moved from "Participation Status" to "Gold Status" recognitions in 2019. n Vitamin C therapy linked to higher sepsis survival rates, study finds By Mackenzie Bean V itamin C infusions may improve recovery time and survival rates for sepsis patients, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study involved 167 patients with sepsis and acute respira- tory distress syndrome who were admitted to seven medical intensive care units in the U.S. between September 2014 and November 2017. Researchers from Richmond-based Virgin- ia Commonwealth University randomly assigned patients to receive either an intravenous infusion of vitamin C or a placebo every six hours for four days. The mortality rate among patients who received the vitamin C therapy was 29.8 percent at day 28, compared to 46.3 percent for the placebo group. Patients who received this therapy also spent, on average, three fewer days in the ICU and a week less in the hospital compared to the placebo group. "We did not find evidence that vitamin C improves sepsis-related organ failure in this particular trial, but it significantly reduced how long patients were hospitalized," lead author Berry Fowler, MD, a professor at the VCU School of Medicine, said in a news release. n Burnout's effect on care quality may be overstated, researchers suggest By Mackenzie Bean E xisting studies may exaggerate the effects of clinician burnout on care quality, ac- cording to research published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers systematically reviewed 123 peer-re- viewed studies on burnout from five databases in 2017. The collective research involved 142 study populations and 241,553 healthcare providers. Researchers discovered a large amount of vari- ability in the studies' data and methodologies, including on the definition of burnout. In an edito- rial accompanying the study, researchers said they acknowledge a link between high burnout and lower care quality but "question the magnitude of the relationship and are concerned about report- ing bias." "Future studies should prespecify outcomes to reduce the risk for exaggerated effect size esti- mates," they concluded. n

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