Health Services Research articles from December 1999

Health Services Research archives from December 1999

Reengineering and the Hospital Staff Nurse.
December 1, 1999... In the summer of 1998, a community hospital in the state of New York was put under state monitoring and came just short of being removed from participation in the Medicaid and Medicare programs. In the preceding two or so years, the staff had...

National Probability Samples in Studies of Low-Prevalence Diseases. Part I: Perspectives and Lessons from the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study.
December 1, 1999... Objective. To examine the trade-offs inherent in selecting a sample design for a national study of care for an uncommon disease, and the adaptations, opportunities and costs associated with the choice of national probability sampling in a study...

National Probability Samples in Studies of Low-Prevalence Diseases. Part II: Designing and Implementing the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study Sample.
December 1, 1999... Objective. The design and implementation of a nationally representative probability sample of persons with a low-prevalence disease, HIV/AIDS. Data Sources/Study Setting. One of the most significant roadblocks to the generalizability of...

The Effects of Managed Care and Prospective Payment on the Demand for Hospital Nurses: Evidence from California.
December 1, 1999... Objective. To examine the effects of managed care and the prospective payment system on the hospital employment of registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and aides. Data Sources. Hospital-level data from California's...

Does What Nurses Do Affect Clinical Outcomes for Hospitalized Patients? A Review of the Literature.
December 1, 1999... Objective. Through a review of the literature, to identify and describe (1) empirical studies of inpatient nursing care quality that evaluate links between nursing care processes and health-related patient outcomes, (2) nursing care processes...

Clustering and the Design of Preference-Assessment Surveys in Healthcare.
December 1, 1999... Objective. To show cluster analysis as a potentially useful tool in defining common outcomes empirically and in facilitating the assessment of preferences for health states. Data Sources. A survey of 224 patients with ventricular arrhythmias...

Using Medicaid Claims to Construct Dental Service Market Areas.
December 1, 1999... Objective. To use Medicaid claims data to construct patient origin-based market areas for dental services and compare constructed market areas with those based on the practice county. Data Sources. North Carolina Medicaid claims,...

Commentary: How Well Do We Understand the Relationship Between Prenatal Care and Birth Weight?
December 1, 1999... Low birth weight ([less]2,500 grams) is considered to be a negative birth outcome and is widely used as an indicator of infant frailty. Low birth weight and its major antecedent of prematurity ([less]37 completed weeks of gestation) are the...

On the Issues of the Effectiveness of Prenatal Care: A Reply.
December 1, 1999... THE BACKGROUND In medical practice, the private and public health sectors both have long been promoting the use of prenatal care, in the strong belief that prenatal care is beneficial for improving birth outcomes. Contrary to people's...

The Emergence of Qualitative Methods in Health Services Research.
December 1, 1999... This Special Supplement Issue of Health Services Research draws attention to the growing role played by qualitative methods in health services research. This is consistent with developments in the social and policy sciences at large, reflecting...

Overview of the Special Supplement Issue.
December 1, 1999... The U.S. health care "system" is complex and is undergoing increasingly rapid change. Although technological innovation, specialization, and differentiation of services have been dynamic features of the health care system for most of this...

Qualitative Methods: What Are They and Why Use Them?
December 1, 1999... Objective. To provide an overview of reasons why qualitative methods have been used and can be used in health services and health policy research, to describe a range of specific methods, and to give examples of their application. Data...

Qualitative Research and the Profound Grasp of the Obvious.
December 1, 1999... Objective. To discuss the value of promoting coexistent and complementary relationships between qualitative and quantitative research methods as illustrated by presentations made by four respected health services researchers who described their...

The Distinctiveness of Case-oriented Research.
December 1, 1999... INTRODUCTION: TWO STRATEGIES OF SOCIAL RESEARCH It is common in discussions of methodology to focus on techniques of data collection and to group techniques into two main families, qualitative and quantitative. Techniques in the qualitative...

How Will We Know "Good" Qualitative Research When We See It? Beginning the Dialogue in Health Services Research.
December 1, 1999... Objective. To lay the foundation for an explicit review and dialogue concerning the criteria that should be used to evaluate qualitative health services research. Clear criteria are critical for the discipline because they provide a benchmark...

Enhancing the Quality and Credibility of Qualitative Analysis.
December 1, 1999... Abstract. Varying philosophical and theoretical orientations to qualitative inquiry remind us that issues of quality and credibility intersect with audience and intended research purposes. This overview examines ways of enhancing the quality...

Enhancing the Quality of Case Studies in Health Services Research.
December 1, 1999... Objective. To provide guidance on improving the quality of case studies in health services research. Data Sources. Secondary data, drawing from previous case study research. Research Design. Guidance is provided to two audiences:...

Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Study Causal Complexity.
December 1, 1999... In case-oriented research, investigators study the ways in which the different aspects of cases fit together Within each case, and they make sense of each case separately (Ragin, earlier in this issue). Although this approach is rich in detail,...

Analyzing Qualitative Data with Computer Software.
December 1, 1999... Objective. To provide health services researchers with an overview of the qualitative data analysis process and the role of software within it; to provide a principled approach to choosing among software packages to support qualitative data...