Resources for Researchers and Healthcare Professionals
The Division of Health Systems Science produces a range of curricula and training materials for researchers and practicing healthcare professionals. Many of these are a result of research projects that develop and test interventions to benefit patient care.
Below is an overview of some of our resources for practicing professionals.
Disclosure of Delayed Diagnosis of Breast Cancer: A Physician Awareness Program
Conversations about adverse events and delays in diagnosis are difficult, challenging conversations. This video offers expert advice for clinicians, and an example of how to discuss delayed diagnosis in cancer.
Improving Safety After Hospitalization in Older Persons on High-Risk Medications: A Toolkit to Guide Clinical Pharmacist Home Visits with Patients
This toolkit was developed for the implementation of a clinical pharmacist home-based intervention that includes home-based assessments of high-risk medications, home-based patient medication education, primary care provider communication, and follow-up via telephone patient assessment (and additional PCP communication as necessary). Click here to view the clinical pharmacist training presentation. This toolkit was created by researchers at Meyers Health Care Institute. The toolkit was developed as a resource from the Improving Safety After Hospitalization in Older Adults on High-Risk Medications (ISAH) Study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Warfarin Communication Toolkit for Nurses
This toolkit improves communication related to the management of warfarin in long-term care settings. The toolkit introduces training materials and resources to help adapt communication practices. These materials are based on the principles of effective standardized communication that includes four components: Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation (SBAR). This work was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Caring for Residents with Dementia: A Guide for Behavior Management and Evidence-Based Medication Use
This toolkit improves the quality of life and care of elders living with dementia. The toolkit is tailored to interdisciplinary clinicians who work in long-term care settings. This work was a joint collaboration between Meyers Health Care Institute and Qualidigm, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Geriatric Research Instrument Library (GRIL)
The Geriatric Research Instrument Library (GRIL) is a web-based repository of information and resources about measurement instruments commonly used in gerontological research. Researchers can use GRIL to identify, compare and select instruments for their research investigations. A brief description of each instrument and a link to its relevant manuscript are provided. Begin your search by navigating through the instrument domains listed to the left or by using the search bar. The development and updating of GRIL has been supported by the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers (OAICs) at Yale University, Duke University, Wake Forest University and Meyers Health Care Institute. Development of the content was originally supported by National Institute on Aging grant 2P30 AG021342-06S1 to Yale University. GRIL is currently supported by National Institute on Aging grant numbers U24AG05964 for the OAIC Coordinating Center and R33 AG045050 for the HCSRN (Health Care Systems Research Network)-OAICs AGING (Advancing Geriatrics Research Infrastructure and Network Growth) Initiative.
Patient Assessment of cancer Communication Experiences (PACE)
This document presents sets of items intended to assess patients’ perceptions of communication between patients and cancer care teams over the course of cancer care. We drew heavily on what we learned from interviews with patients and family members about their experiences with and views on communication over the course of cancer care. We also considered the six functions of communication as described by Epstein and Street in their monograph on patient centered communication, and created items that we felt addressed these functions in ways that would be salient to patients. Our goal is for physicians, practices, and healthcare organizations to use these items to collect information on patients’ experiences with communication across the cancer care continuum.
For additional information, please contact Kathy Mazor at Kathleen.mazor@umassmed.edu.
Leveraging Evidence-Based Practices for Ambulatory VTE and Other Patients to be Safe with Direct Oral Anticoagulants (LEAVE Safe with DOACs): A Toolkit to Guide Clinical Pharmacist Transitional Care Intervention and Outcome Assessment
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine developed this toolkit for the implementation of a clinical pharmacist intervention to reduce clinically important medication errors in patients newly starting, or resuming after setback, a direct oral anticoagulant in an ambulatory setting. They framed this intervention around the DOAC Checklist (adapted from one endorsed recently by the Anticoagulation Forum). The toolkit was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.