Linking health information technology to patient safety and quality outcomes: a bibliometric analysis and review

Abstract

Objective.

To assess the scholarly output of grants funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) that published knowledge relevant to the impact of health information technologies on patient safety and quality of care outcomes.

Study design

We performed a bibliometric analysis of the identified scholarly articles, their journals, and citations. In addition, we performed a qualitative review of the full-text articles and grant documents.

Data collection/extraction methods

Papers published by AHRQ-funded investigators were retrieved from MEDLINE, journal impact factors were extracted from the 2010 Thompson Reuters Journal Citation Report, citations were retrieved from ISI's Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar.

Principal findings.

Seventy-two articles met the criteria for review. Most articles addressed one or more of AHRQ's outcome goals and focus priorities. The average impact factor for the journals was 4.005 (range: 0.654–28.899). The articles, and their respective grants, represented a broad range of health information technologies.

Conclusions.

This set of AHRQ-funded research projects addressed the goals and priorities of AHRQ, indicating notable contributions to the scientific knowledge base on the impact of information system use in healthcare.

Keywords:

• Bibliography of Medicine
• bibliometrics
• information dissemination
• journal impact factor
• medical informatics

Acknowledgements

All authors qualify for authorship by their contributions to the manuscript. J. McGowan conceived and guided the overall study design. E. Whipple and J. McGowan contributed to the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of the data. B. Dixon contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the data. All authors contributed to the drafting and revising of the article and approved the final manuscript. This work was supported, in part, by the National Resource Center of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, contract number 290-04-0016.

Declaration of Interest: The authors have no conflict of interest.