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Research Overview

Kathleen E. Walsh, M.D., M.Sc. is the Director of the Patient Safety Research Core and Director of the Harvard-Wide Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship. Her research focuses on patient safety and implementation science. Funded by AHRQ R01 and R18 grants, she is leading two studies on the epidemiology and prevention of medication errors and treatment delays in children with chronic conditions. She is also leading an AHRQ R18 funded study to test strategies to improve the national spread and scale of up of a pediatric patient safety intervention. She has experience in the study medication errors and adverse drug events among children in the hospital, emergency department, clinic, and home. She has developed and evaluated health information technology interventions to support medication use. She visited the homes of children with sickle cell disease, cancer, and epilepsy in single site and multisite studies to understand barriers and facilitators of safe home medication use. In collaboration with parents of children with chronic conditions, she led the development, implementation, and testing of information technology interventions to improve home medication use. She has served as a mentor to several junior faculty interested in health services research. Her research has been funded by the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Charles H. Hood Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

 

Research Background

Dr. Walsh is a practicing primary care pediatrician with NRSA T32 clinical research fellowship training, including a Masters in Epidemiology from Boston University. She received her medical degree from Georgetown and completed residency and chief residency at Rhode Island Hospital.

Selected Publications

  1. Goldstein SL, Dahale D, Kirkendall ES, Mottes T, Kaplan H, Muething S, Askenazi D, Henderson T, Dill L, Somers M, Kerr J, Gilarde J, Zaritsky J, Bica V, Brophy PD, Misurac J, Hackbarth R, Steinke J, Mooney J, Ogrin S, Chadha V, Warady B, Ogden R, Hoebing W, Symons J, Yonekawa K, Menon S, Abrams L, Sutherland S, Weng P, Zhang F, Walsh KE. A prospective multi-center quality improvement initiative (NINJA) indicated a reduction in nephrotoxic acute kidney injury in hospitalized children. Kidney International. 2020 Mar; 97(3): 580-588. PubMed PMID: 31980139
  2. Walsh KE, Razzaghi H, Hartley DM, Utidjian L, Alford S, Darwar RA, Shenkman E, Jonas S, Goodick M, Finkelstein J, Ozonoff A, Black LV, Shapiro M, Shaw K, McCafferty-Fernandez J, Marsolo K, Kelly A, Werk LN, Smallwood J, Bailey C. Testing the Use of Data Drawn from the Electronic Health Record to Compare Quality. Pediatric quality & safety. 2021 Jul 28; 6(4): e432. PubMed PMID: 34345748; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8322494.
  3. Hartley DM, Jonas S, Grossoehme D, Kelly A, Dodds C, Alford SM, Shenkman E, Simmons J, Bailey LC, Razzaghi H, Utidjian LH, McCafferty-Fernandez J, Cole FS, Smallwood J, Werk LN, Walsh KE. Use of EHR-Based Pediatric Quality Measures: Views of Health System Leaders and Parents. American journal of medical quality : the official journal of the American College of Medical Quality. 2020 Mar 1; 35(2): 177-185. PubMed PMID: 31115254.
  4. Hoffman JM, Keeling NJ, Forrest CB, Tubbs-Cooley HL, Moore E, Oehler E, Wilson S, Schainker E, Walsh KE. Priorities for Pediatric Patient Safety Research. Pediatrics. 2019 Feb 1; 143(2). PubMed PMID: 30674609; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6361358
  5. Walsh KE, Marsolo KA, Davis C, Todd T, Martineau B, Arbaugh C, Verly F, Samson C, Margolis P. Accuracy of the medication list in the electronic health record-implications for care, research, and improvement. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA. 2018 Jul 1; 25(7): 909-912. PubMed PMID: 29771350
  6. Walsh KE, Harik P, Mazor KM, Perfetto D, Anatchkova M, Biggins C, Wagner J, Schoettker PJ, Firneno C, Klugman R, Tjia J. Measuring Harm in Health Care: Optimizing Adverse Event Review. Medical care. 2017 Apr 1; 55(4): 436-441. PubMed PMID: 27906769; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5352561.
  7. Goudie A, Dynan L, Brady PW, Fieldston E, Brilli RJ, Walsh KE. Costs of Venous Thromboembolism, Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection, and Pressure Ulcer. Pediatrics. 2015 Sep 1; 136(3): 432-9. PubMed PMID: 26260712.
  8. Walsh KE, Roblin DW, Weingart SN, Houlahan KE, Degar B, Billett A, Keuker C, Biggins C, Li J, Wasilewski K, Mazor KM. Medication errors in the home: a multisite study of children with cancer. Pediatrics. 2013 May 1; 131(5): e1405-14. PubMed PMID: 23629608; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4074655.
  9. Walsh KE, Dodd KS, Seetharaman K, Roblin DW, Herrinton LJ, Von Worley A, Usmani GN, Baer D, Gurwitz JH. Medication errors among adults and children with cancer in the outpatient setting. Journal of clinical oncology: official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 2009 Feb 20; 27(6): 891-6. PubMed PMID: 19114695 .
  10. Walsh KE, Landrigan CP, Adams WG, Vinci RJ, Chessare JB, Cooper MR, Hebert PM, Schainker EG, McLaughlin TJ, Bauchner H. Effect of computer order entry on prevention of serious medication errors in hospitalized children. Pediatrics. 2008 Mar 1; 121(3): e421-7.

Publications