Audit Study Research Articles

Discrimination Against Puerto Ricans in the Puerto Rican Housing Market: Evidence From a Preregistered Audit Experiment

Abstract Do locals discriminate against themselves by favoring foreigners with higher expected purchasing power? Drawing on theories of prejudice, discrimination, and colonialism, I argue that in colonized and post-colonial countries, local home sellers discriminate against local potential homebuyers while favoring foreigners with expected higher purchasing power, anticipating a more profitable transaction. I support this argument with evidence from a preregistered online audit study targeting discriminatory attitudes toward local home buyers. In the study, fictitious home buyers with distinctive language and ethnic names emailed 1,512 home sellers (realtors and homeowners) across all municipalities in Puerto Rico. Home sellers reported more houses available to Americans and invited them to more house showings than Puerto Ricans. My estimates indicate that ethnic discrimination exists in the Puerto Rican housing market. These findings provide new insights into ethnic dynamics in colonized and post-colonial societies and underscore concerns about recent legislation that turned Puerto Rico into a tax haven.

Importance of Condensate Recovery in Industrial Operations “AMOC CASE”

Condensate recovery is a crucial aspect of industrial processes that involves the collection and reuse of condensed steam, a byproduct of heat exchange systems. This research paper explores condensate recovery's significance in industrial operations. It discusses the benefits, challenges, and best practices associated with condensate recovery, emphasizing its environmental, economic, and operational impacts. This research also examines various technologies and strategies used for efficient condensate recovery and highlights the importance of incorporating such practices into industrial settings for sustainability and resource conservation. The walk-through sample survey for the Scoping study of Steam Traps & condensate recovery system was carried out at AMOC, plant from 24th Dec-2017 to 26th Dec-2017. the audit study was in a total number of 4675 steam traps, the result of the audit found 50% failure of these traps. AMOC consists of a lube oil complex and a gas oil complex with tank farms and a utilities section, 1st stage of the study was finished in the lube oil plant with [1] Total Savings Potential (in USD) = 234745, [2] Total Investment (in USD) = 245521, and [3] Total Payback for the System = 12.5 months.

Generative AI Search Engines as Arbiters of Public Knowledge: An Audit of Bias and Authority

ABSTRACTThis paper reports on an audit study of generative AI systems (ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and Perplexity), which investigates how these new search engines construct responses and establish authority for topics of public importance. We collected system responses using a set of 48 authentic queries for 4 topics over 7 days, and analyzed the data using sentiment analysis, inductive coding, and source classification. Results provide an overview of the nature of system responses across these systems, and provide evidence of sentiment bias based on the queries and topics, and commercial and geographic biases in sources. The quality of sources used to support claims is uneven, relying heavily on News and Media, Business and Digital Media websites. Implications for system users emphasize the need to critically examine Generative AI system outputs when making decisions related to public interest and personal well‐being.

Atrial Fibrillation Prevalence In Ischemic Strokes In An Irish Hospital. Spotlight On Anticoagulation Failure In Patients On Direct Oral Anticoagulants

Abstract Background Global atrial fibrillation (AF) burden in acute ischemic stroke patients approximates at 30%. An Audit in 2022, in the concerned hospital identified lack of compliance and under-dosing as major causes of ischemic strokes whilst on direct acting anticoagulants (DOACs). This year, we sought repeat the audit of process with focus on ischemic strokes with pre-existing AF patients established on DOACs, to study trends related to anticoagulation failure. Methods The study was a retrospective observational audit study of all patients admitted with a diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke to the concerned hospital from January 2023 to December 2023 who had known diagnosis of atrial fibrillation and were prescribed a DOAC prior to their admission in the concerned hospital with an ischemic stroke. Patients were identified via HIPE coding and in-hospital stroke registry. Data was collected via charts review, compiled via flow charts, graphs and excel sheets, and studied. Results 143 patients were admitted to the hospital’s stroke service with ischemic stroke in the set time frame. 46 (32%) had Atrial Fibrillation (AF) which was deemed to be the cause of their stroke. 29 (20.2%) had pre-existing diagnosed AF, and 22 of those patients were prescribed DOACs. In all patients already on DOACs, compliance was found questionable or lack of in 11 (50%). 8 (36.3%) patients were on low dose (adjusted dose DOACs). 3 patients were diagnosed with DOAC failure without cause. All new and existing AF patients not anticoagulated, were commenced on anticoagulation. Conclusion The audit showed under dosage and poor compliance were major causes of anticoagulation failure in stroke patients who were anticoagulated with DOACs. Similar results were noted as secondary results in last year’s audit in the concerned hospital. As part of quality improvement process, a specialist DOAC clinic was being set up with further audit process planned for the coming year.

Abstract B020: Do U.S. quitsites present information related to providing services for LGBTQ individuals? An audit study

Abstract This abstract is being presented as a short talk in the scientific program. A full abstract is printed in the Proffered Abstracts section (PR016) of the Conference Program/Proceedings. Citation Format: Jeffrey Wilmer Ramos Santiago, Scott McIntosh, Rafael Orfin, Daimarelys Lara, Skylar Joseph, Manpreet Kau1, Alixida Ramos-Pibernu3, Ana Paula Cupertin1, Deborah Ossip, Francisco Cartujano-Barrera. Do U.S. quitsites present information related to providing services for LGBTQ individuals? An audit study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B020.

Abstract PR016: Do U.S. quitsites present information related to providing services for LGBTQ individuals? An audit study

Abstract Introduction: Most U.S. quitlines have quitsites, websites designated to promote their services. However, little is known about the design of the quitsites and if they present information relevant to providing services for LGBTQ individuals. The present study audited quitsites for the presence of information regarding services for LGBTQ individuals. Methods Using an audit checklist consisting of nine criteria, a cross-sectional audit of the U.S. quitsites was conducted between October 16th, 2023, and November 8th, 2023. The audit was divided into two phases: 1) auditors evaluated each quitsite separately, and 2) auditors met to discuss points of disagreement and reach a consensus. The interrater agreement was calculated. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for each criterion. Results The audit evaluated a total of 46 quitsites. Auditors had an interrater agreement of 96.85%. Findings indicated that most quitsites had at least a singular mention of the LGBTQ community somewhere on their website (84.8%). However, only 4.3% of the quitsites mentioned the LGBTQ community on their landing page. Conclusions It is recommended that quitsites explicitly mention services for LGBTQ individuals on their landing page, which has the potential to engage the community into quitline services and reduce tobacco-related disparities. Implications This study represents the first audit to assess whether U.S. quitsites present information relevant to providing services for LGBTQ individuals. This research adds knowledge about how official quitline websites address services for the LGBTQ community. The results suggest that quitsites explicitly mention the provision of services for LGBTQ individuals on their landing page, which has the potential to engage LGBTQ individuals into quitline services and reduce tobacco-related disparities. Citation Format: Jeffrey Wilmer Ramos Santiago, Scott McIntosh, Rafael Orfin, Daimarelys Lara, Skylar Joseph, Manpreet Kaur, Alixida Ramos-Pibernus, Ana Paula Cupertino, Deborah Ossip, Francisco Cartujano-Barrera. Do U.S. quitsites present information related to providing services for LGBTQ individuals? An audit study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PR016.

EP274 - A clinical audit on nasogastric tube placement documentation and adherence with NICE guidelines in general surgical patients across a district general hospital

Abstract Aims NICE provide clear guidelines on confirming correct nasogastric (NG) tube siting using pH testing of aspirates or with X-rays where indeterminate samples are drawn. We aimed to audit documentation following nasogastric tube insertion to ascertain adherence to NICE guidelines. Methods A single-cycle snapshot audit was conducted on all surgical inpatients who had nasogastric tubes inserted over their admission across a single-centre district general hospital general surgery department. Data was collected on indication for NG tube insertion (drainage or feeding), length of initial tube insertion, whether pH testing was used to confirm position, and whether correct tube placement has been confirmed by a competent person through x-ray where indeterminate samples were tested from NG aspirate (pH > 5.5). Results A total of 15 patients had an NG tube inserted over their admission with mean age 77.3 years (range 47-97). 60% of patients had correctly documented confirmation of NG tube siting. 4/15 NG tubes were inserted for feeding purposes (26.7%), all of which were documented correctly. Only 45.5% of NG tubes for drainage were documented correctly and only 33.3% of all NG tubes had length of insertion documented. Where pH testing was inconclusive, a chest X-ray was requested for all patients and sufficiently documented by a doctor qualified to confirm position. No complications relating to NG tubes occurred across the audit study. Conclusions Implementation of improvement measures are warranted to improve overall adherence with NICE guidelines and prevent risk of incorrect confirmation of NG tube siting.

Do US quitsites present information related to providing services for LGBTQ individuals? An audit study

Do US quitsites present information related to providing services for LGBTQ individuals? An audit study

An audit study of barriers to mental health treatment for wrongly incarcerated people.

People who have been wrongly incarcerated report exceptionally poor mental health, and despite having been exonerated, they face discrimination similar to other formerly incarcerated people when seeking housing and employment opportunities. The current audit study was designed to test whether exonerees likewise face discrimination when seeking mental health treatment. Therapists will reply less often to treatment inquiries from exonerees and parolees compared to another prospective client with the same symptoms and trauma history-and when therapists do reply, they will less often be willing to meet with exonerated or paroled help seekers. We emailed 752 therapists across the United States while posing as a man seeking therapy for the mental health symptoms most commonly reported by exonerees. By random assignment, this help seeker had been either incarcerated and paroled, wrongly incarcerated and exonerated, or working as a first responder (control). For each email, we noted whether the therapist replied and, if so, the speed and length of the reply. We also content analyzed all replies for predetermined themes, including willingness to meet. Overall, therapists replied less often to exonerees (50.6%) than to first responders (62.9%) or parolees (61.1%), who did not differ (V = .11). Therapists' replies also differed in their willingness to meet (V = .13), such that inquiries from first responders would more often result in a meeting with a therapist (31.7%) compared with inquiries from exonerees (19.6%) or parolees (21.0%). Exonerees' staggering rates of mental illness may be compounded by lesser treatment access. Therapists' reluctance to assist exonerees may reflect stigma and/or perceived incompetence. Our data highlight the need to destigmatize wrongful conviction, empower clinicians to treat exonerated clients, and advance legislation and other means to expand exonerees' access to mental health care. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Supplemental Material for An Audit Study of Barriers to Mental Health Treatment for Wrongly Incarcerated People

Supplemental Material for An Audit Study of Barriers to Mental Health Treatment for Wrongly Incarcerated People

UK Reproducibility Network open and transparent research practices survey dataset

Openness and transparency in the research process are a prerequisite to the production of high quality research outputs. Efforts to maximise these features have substantially accelerated in recent years, placing open and transparent research practices at the forefront of funding and related priorities, and encouraging investment in resources and infrastructure to enable such practices. Despite these efforts, there has been no systematic documentation of current practices, infrastructure, or training and resources that support open and transparent research in the UK. To address this gap, we developed and conducted the Open and Transparent Research Practices survey, a large-scale audit study completed by research-active staff in UK research institutions to better understand existing practices, needs, support, and barriers faced when implementing open and transparent research. The data presented here capture responses from over 2,500 research-active staff based at 15 institutions affiliated with the UK Reproducibility Network. The data provide a snapshot of open research practices that can be used to identify barriers, training needs, and areas that require greater investments.

Evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder is widely unavailable and often discouraged by providers of residential substance use services in North Carolina

IntroductionOpioid agonist treatment (OAT) is the only treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) proven to reduce overdose mortality, yet access to this evidence-based treatment remains poor. The purpose of this cross-sectional audit study was to assess OAT availability at residential substance use services in North Carolina. MethodsWe conducted a state-wide inventory of residential substance use service providers in North Carolina and subsequently called all providers identified, posing as uninsured persons who use heroin, seeking treatment services. Program characteristics, as reported in phone calls, were systematically recorded. We used Fisher's exact tests to assess what program characteristics were associated with OAT availability and with staff making discouraging comments about OAT. We used unsupervised agglomerative clustering to identify facilities with similar characteristics. ResultsOf the 94 treatment providers identified, we successfully contacted and collected data from 66. Of those, only 7 (10.6 %) provide OAT on site; an additional 9 (13.6 %) allow OAT through an outside or community-based prescriber. Only 8 (12.1 %) providers were licensed to provide residential substance use treatment. Staff from 33 (50.0 %) providers made negative, discouraging, or stigmatizing remarks about OAT—for example, that OAT substitutes one addiction for another or does not constitute “true recovery.” OAT availability was positively associated with a provider holding a state license for any substance use-related service (41.9 % vs 8.6 %, p = 0.002) and offering 12-step programming (36.1 % vs. 10/0 %, p = 0.020). OAT availability was negatively associated with faith-based programming (6.1 % vs 42.4 %, p = 0.001), dress codes (5.3 % vs 50.0 %, p < 0.001), and mandates that residents work in a provider-owned and -operated commercial enterprise (5.0 % vs 32.6 %, p = 0.026). Cluster analysis revealed that the most common (n = 21) type of service provider in North Carolina is an unlicensed, faith-based organization that prohibits OAT, imposes a dress code, and mandates that residents work, often in provider-owned and -operated commercial enterprises. ConclusionEvidence-based treatments for OUD are largely unavailable at providers of residential substance use services in North Carolina. The prohibition of OAT occurs most often among providers who are unlicensed and impose labor and/or 12-step mandates on residents. Changes to state licensure requirements and exemptions may help improve OAT availability.

An observational cohort of patients with colorectal peritoneal metastases or pseudomyxoma peritonei treated with CRS-HIPEC: Development and first results of the Dutch CRS-HIPEC quality registry

IntroductionTo improve care for patients with colorectal peritoneal metastases (CRC-PM) or pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), the Dutch CRS-HIPEC quality registry was initiated in 2019. The aims are to describe the development and content of this registry and to give insight into the data collected during the first years. Materials and methodsThe registry is an observational cohort in the Netherlands. All patients with CRC-PM or PMP who intend to undergo cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC) from 6 hospitals are included. Clinical data and outcomes (including hospital variation) were analyzed. ResultsIn 2019–2022, 889 patients were included in the CRS-HIPEC quality registry: 749 (84 %) with CRC-PM and 140 (16 %) with PMP. Peritoneal metastases were diagnosed synchronously in 51 % of CRC-PM patients and in 94 % of PMP patients. In patients undergoing complete CRS, the median peritoneal cancer index was 8 (IQR 4–13) for CRC-PM and 15 (IQR 6–26) for PMP. Complete cytoreduction was achieved in 639 CRC-PM patients (97 %) and 108 PMP patients (82 %). HIPEC was mainly performed with mitomycin C (CRC-PM: 94 %, PMP: 92 %). Major postoperative complications (Clavien-Dindo grade ≥3) occurred in 148 CRC-PM patients (22 %) and 30 PMP patients (23 %) with 90-day mortality rates of 2 %. In CRC-PM, differences between hospitals were observed regarding proportions of diagnostic laparoscopies/laparotomies, (neo)adjuvant treatment, ostomy formations and re-admissions. ConclusionThe CRS-HIPEC quality registry provides insight into the outcomes of CRS-HIPEC and enables clinical auditing and observational cohort studies aiming to improve treatment outcomes for patients with CRC-PM and PMP.

Neighborhood Stigma and Romani Entrepreneurship: Evidence from an Audit Study in the Czech Republic

Neighborhood Stigma and Romani Entrepreneurship: Evidence from an Audit Study in the Czech Republic

Access to Psychiatric Appointments for Medicaid Enrollees in 4 Large US Cities

This audit study examines availability of and wait times for Medicaid enrollee appointments with psychiatric prescribing clinicians across 4 of the most populous US cities.

Empirical Study of Tax Socialization and Audit: A Critical Issue of Taxpayer Compliance in Indonesia

Empirical Study of Tax Socialization and Audit: A Critical Issue of Taxpayer Compliance in Indonesia

How to Design Effective Audit and Feedback Interventions With Nurses: A Set of Hypotheses Based on Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence.

To propose practical hypotheses on audit and feedback that support the effectiveness with nurses. Audit and feedback interventions have been mainly studied with physicians; however, the processes have been practiced by nurses for years. Nurses' response may differ from that of physicians and other healthcare disciplines because of their roles, power, and the configuration of nursing activities. A comparative analysis of the Clinical Performance Feedback Intervention Theory was conducted using nursing-specific empirical data from: 1) a mixed-methods systematic review and 2) a pilot study of audit and feedback with a team of primary care nurses. Researchers hypothesize that audit and feedback interventions are more effective when: 1) feedback emphasizes how it relates to the relational aspect of nursing; 2) indicators are measured and reported at team level; and 3) feedback is provided in a way that highlights benefits to nurses' practice, such as the potential to reduce workload. These proposed hypotheses provide concrete guidance to researchers and managers for an effective use of audit and feedback as a quality improvement strategy with nurses.

Contracting when enforcement is weak: evidence from an audit study

Abstract How are contracts structured in the presence of relationship-specific investments when legal enforcement is weak? Using a new audit methodology, we show that simple financial contracts in combination with social norms and reputation concerns can sustain relationship-specific transactions. Wholesalers in the market for pens in India use upfront payments rather than increased risk premiums to mitigate risks arising from relationship-specific investments. Upfront payments for printed pens cover only 40 percent of the production costs, highlighting the importance of upfront payments as a screening device. Ex-post, renegotiation is more likely for printed pens, but in a substantial fraction of cases, renegotiation fails.

Evolution of Auditing Experimental Research and Contemporary Topics in Auditing

The field of auditing is concerned with providing auditing services, which is an independent and systematic process of assessing and improving the financial health of a company or agency. This manuscript describes the development of experimental auditing research and points out recent lines of investigation. The sources of this article are various experimental audit studies published globally between the 1970s and 2000s. The nature of experimental audit research (REP), the growth of REP internationally, current topics in REP, and the evolution of REP in Indonesia are the sections of this article. REPs that can be developed in the future include how to present audit information, fraud assessment, analytical procedures, interactions between auditors and clients (negotiations and agreements), and interactions between auditors (brainstorming). This is based on research on various REPs conducted at the international level.

Level of education and economy on maternal death in Kolaka District, Southeast Sulawesi Province: A study of maternal perinatal audit in Indonesia

Level of education and economy on maternal death in Kolaka District, Southeast Sulawesi Province: A study of maternal perinatal audit in Indonesia