Observational Health Services Studies Using Nationwide Administrative Data Sets: Understanding Strengths and Limitations of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey : Answers to the May 2013 Journal Club Questions - 19/09/13

Doi : 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2013.07.498

Candace D. McNaughton, MD, MPH ^a, Wesley H. Self, MD, MPH ^a, Jesse M. Pines, MD, MBA, MSCE ^b
^a Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
^b George Washington University, Washington, DC

Section editors: Tyler W. Barrett, MD, MSCI; David L. Schriger, MD, MPH

Plan

Discussion Points

Answer 1

Editor's Note: You are reading the 33rd installment of Annals of Emergency Medicine Journal Club. This Journal Club refers to the Pitts et al and McCaig et al articles published in the December 2012 edition.^{1Pitts S.R., Pines J.M., Handrigan M.T., et al. National trends in emergency department occupancy, 2001 to 2008: effect of inpatient admissions versus emergency department practice intensity Ann Emerg Med 2012 ; 60 : 679-686 [inter-ref]

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références, 2McCaig L.F., Burt C.W. Understanding and Interpreting the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: key questions and answers Ann Emerg Med 2012 ; 60 : 716-721 [inter-ref]

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références} In previous journal clubs, the editors have often reached out to the article's authors for additional information or data to enhance our critique of the article. This month is the first time that we have one of the article's authors contributing to the answers. Dr. Jesse Pines, an author on the Pitts et al article,^{1Pitts S.R., Pines J.M., Handrigan M.T., et al. National trends in emergency department occupancy, 2001 to 2008: effect of inpatient admissions versus emergency department practice intensity Ann Emerg Med 2012 ; 60 : 679-686 [inter-ref]

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références} is an expert on research with large federal databases and has advised the agencies that administer these surveys. Dr. Pines did not participate in the development of any questions related to the article that he coauthored. He has agreed to offer his expertise to this Journal Club. Information about Journal Club can be found at journalclub. Readers should recognize that these are suggested answers. We hope they are accurate; we know that they are not comprehensive. There are many other points that could be made about these questions or about the article in general. Questions are rated “novice,” (

) “intermediate,” (

) and “advanced”

so that individuals planning a journal club can assign the right question to the right student. The “novice” rating does not imply that a novice should be able to spontaneously answer the question. “Novice” means we expect that someone with little background should be able to do a bit of reading, formulate an answer, and teach the material to others. Intermediate and advanced questions also will likely require some reading and research, and that reading will be sufficiently difficult that some background in clinical epidemiology will be helpful in understanding the reading and concepts. We are interested in receiving feedback about this feature. Please e-mail journalclub@acep.org with your comments.

CDM was funded by Vanderbilt Emergency Medicine Research Training Program (K12HL109019).