Top priorities for clinical effectiveness research

The Institute of Medicine has released a list of the top 100 priorities for clinical effectiveness research, which it defines as "the generation and synthesis of evidence that compares the benefits and harms of alternative methods to prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor a clinical condition or to improve the delivery of care." Of the top 100 research priorities, 3 fell into the primary area of infectious diseases, 2 of which directly relate to healthcare epidemiology. Both of these were ranked among the top 25 most important priorities and are:

--To compare the effectiveness of various screening, prophylaxis, and treatment interventions in eradicating methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in communities, institutions, and hospitals.

--To compare the effectiveness of strategies (e.g., bio-patches, reducing central line entry, chlorhexidine for all line entries, antibiotic impregnated catheters, treating all line entries via a sterile field) for reducing health care associated infections (HAI), including catheter-associated bloodstream infection, ventilator associated pneumonia, and surgical site infections, in children and adults.

The purpose of the IOM's project is to identify how to distribute $400 million in federal stimulus funds.

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