Health Services Research Websites -- Who Knew?

• Academy Health – http://www.academyhealth.org
• Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research – http://www.ahrq.gov
• American Nurses Credentialing Center – http://www.nursecredentialing.org/
• American Nurses Foundation - http://www.nursingworld.org/
• American Public Health Association – http://www.apha.org
• Canadian Journal of Nursing Research - http://www.cjnr.mcgill.ca/
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention - http://www.cdc.gov
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – http://www.cms.hhs.gov
• Center for Studying Health System Change – http://www.hschange.com
• Changes in Health Care Financing & Organization – http://www.hcfo.org
• The Commonwealth Fund – http://www.commonwealthfund.org
• Eastern Nursing Research Society - http://www.enrs-go.org/
• EBSCO – American Sentinel University (online)
• Health Affairs: The Journal of the Health Sphere – http://www.healthaffairs.org
• Health Services Research Journal – http://www.hsr.org
• The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation – http://www.kff.org
• How to Write a Dissertation - http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/essay.dissertation.html
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement – http://www.ihi.org
• The Joint Commission – http://www.jointcommission.org
• Mathematica – http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/health
• Medline Plus - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
• Medismart - http://www.medi-smart.com/grant-writing.htm
• Merlot - http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
• Midwestern Nursing Research Society - http://www.mnrs.org/
• National Institute of Nursing Research - http://www.ninr.nih.gov/
• National Library of Medicine - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/
• The National Quality Forum – http://www.qualityforum.org/
• NDNQI – http://www.nursingquality.org
• Nursing Portal (Research Search Engine) - http://www.nursing-portal.com/nse.asp
• Nursing Research - http://www.jcu.edu.au/soc/nursoc/html_pages/nursing_research.htm
• Rand Corporation – http://www.rand.org/health
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – http://www.rwjf.org
• Southern Nursing Research Society - http://www.snrs.org/

Health Services Research

Today is the first day of this course.  So what is Health Services Research (HSR)?    The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) definition of Health Services Research (HSR) is "the multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviors affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, and ultimately our health and well-being. Its research domains are individuals, families, organizations, institutions, communities, and populations ("Health services research core competencies", 2007, para. 11)."

To give some idea of what I think HSR is all about...here is one of my discussion board posts for this weeks' introduction to HSR:

Healthcare is largely about mission, although the engine that drives it is money. While other industry research is driven to make more money, in healthcare, research is theoretically driven to use less money – how do you provide higher or better care for less dollars? 

This quest for less expensive alternatives then feeds another unique characteristic of health services in that there is an expectation from the consumer that they are entitled to virtually unlimited quantities of healthcare without cost and that it be immediately available when needed.

This, in part, comes from the perspective of the consumer that healthcare is free since generally the consumer does not pay for it. Employers (through healthcare insurance), insurance companies, the government or some other entity is ultimately responsible for the largest portion of any healthcare bill.  Those without 3^rd party payors to deal with the cost, who remain nominally responsible for the charges, are largely individuals without resources to pay any portion of their costs,further driving the perspective that there is no charge, i.e., “I don’t have to pay for it, therefore it is absolutely free and I should use as much of it as I want.”

The payment structure is competing in that it wants to reduce the cost of healthcare while at the same time raising the quality as much as possible, but ultimately the consumer of healthcare is a third party who is not involved in that decision making process.

Finally, the complexity of health services is much greater than in most industries because of the virtually unlimited number of variables that impact decisions – health habits of individuals, socioeconomic status of consumers, types of services available in the community, technology available in the community, and any number of other things. Putting all of these variables together and then attempting to provide services among the infinitely variable individual consumer needs makes it virtually impossible to nail down any common factors. It is, to some extent, like nailing Jell-O to the wall.

These unique characteristics of the healthcare industry – an industry that wants more, for less, while being paid for by someone other than the recipient – have contributed to the need for a specialized paradigm of research specifically devoted to health services.

Reference:

Shi, L. (2008). Health services research methods (2nded.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.

2 week break coming to an end

My 2 week break between courses is coming to an end on Sunday.  The next course -- Health Services Research -- begins Monday morning.  I'm already into the course work though -- reading and writing.  It's never-ending.  But that's what I signed on for I suppose.

I'll explain what Health Services Research is in my next post.

I've enjoyed the break between courses.  Now it's time to re-engage fully and get on with it.