Kaiser Permanente
Division of Research Spotlight
The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes, and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and society at large. We seek to understand the determinants of illness and well-being, and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. Currently, DOR’s 550-plus staff is working on more than 350 epidemiological and health services research projects.
Erring on the side of caution, emergency physicians tend to order CT scans to evaluate appendicitis in children, “but research shows that we weren’t necessarily catching more appendicitis,” Dr. Cotton said. “CT scans are costly and expose children to ionizing radiation that can increase the risk of cancer. At the same time, emergency physicians do not want to miss an important diagnosis like appendicitis.”
A new Kaiser Permanente study led by Dana Sax, MD, published today in the December issue of the journal Health Affairs, found that “tele-triage” of patients with chest pain over the phone can safely and effectively direct people to the right place for receiving care.
“Our online tool helps emergency room doctors to quickly and easily identify which patients with pulmonary embolism can be safely treated at home, thus avoiding costly and inconvenient hospitalization,” said David R. Vinson, MD, lead author of a new study in Annals of Internal Medicine.
KP CREST, a multi-center collaborative network based at the Division of Research that encourages, enables, and executes research in emergency medicine, are 2018 recipients of TPMG's Morris F. Collen Research Award.
By Janet Byron OAKLAND, Calif. — A new study, which reviewed more than 118,000 patients arriving at Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California emergency departments with chest pain over a three-year period, will allow doctors to more accurately estimate these patient’s risk…
