When patients enter a hospital, they expect care that is safe, effective, and informed by evidence. Through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)'s National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety, hospitals and health systems improved patient safety performance between 2021 and 2025, achieving outcomes that met or exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Central line-associated bloodstream infections fell from 1.7 to 0.83 per 1,000 patient days, while catheter-associated urinary tract infections declined from 1.06 to 0.66 per 1,000 patient days. Hospital-acquired pressure injuries also improved. In the latest Evidence Effect story, former AHRQ Director Dr. Robert Valdez explains how health services research helped make those improvements possible, and the impact this work had on patient safety.
The Evidence Effect: Health Services Research in the Real World is AcademyHealth’s new storytelling series that highlights how research answers real-world problems, what changed because of the evidence, and who benefited from the research or policy change. Learn more about the Evidence Effect and discover other examples of what HSR does, why it matters, and the impact it creates for people and communities here.