title: Comparative effectiveness and practice variation in neonatal care.
abstract: Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is a relatively new term for clinical research that directly assists patients, clinicians, and policymakers in making informed decisions to improve health care. In neonatology, there are similarities and differences between CER and existing clinical research and quality improvement literature. This article uses existing examples in neonatal literature to describe CER methodology and list some future directions and challenges in neonatal CER.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, 999 North 92nd Street, Suite C410, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA. Electronic address: jlagatta@mcw.edu.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lagatta
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, 999 North 92nd Street, Suite C410, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uhing
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, 999 North 92nd Street, Suite C410, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA; Center for Clinical Effectiveness Research, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Panepinto
mesh_terms: D057186:Comparative Effectiveness Research; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009359:Neonatology; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'
keywords: Clinical research methods; Comparative effectiveness; Neonatology