AHRQ Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships, Rockville, MD

 

Status: There currently is no funding available but applications are accepted on an ongoing basis to be considered when new funding becomes available.

Background

 

Download Files: Application Package

As part of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the lead agency supporting the work of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and Put Prevention Into Practice (PPIP), the implementation program for the USPSTF. In addition, AHRQ conducts research and collaborates with other agencies on efforts to improve the delivery of clinical preventive services. The USPSTF is an independent expert panel, first established in 1984 under the auspices of the U.S. Public Health Service, with the mission to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of clinical preventive services and to formulate recommendations for primary care clinicians regarding the appropriate content of periodic health examinations. Clinical Preventive Services (CPS) guidelines on a wide range of topics were issued by the first and the second Task Force in 1989 and 1996, respectively. The third USPSTF is revising and updating guidelines incrementally, grouped under screening, counseling and chemoprevention, giving priority to those topics on which there is new evidence or ongoing controversy - first of these updated guidelines were released starting April 2001.

 

The clinical preventive medicine rotation at AHRQ gives Preventive Medicine residents an in-depth experience in the process of developing evidence-based recommendations. Residents work closely with AHRQ staff and USPSTF members in a variety of activities: conducting literature reviews of CPS topics; researching information on epidemiology and burden of preventable conditions addressed by CPS; reviewing and editing evidence-based reviews of clinical preventive services prepared by AHRQ Evidence-Based Practice Centers (EPCs); reviewing and summarizing external comments on draft recommendations; researching positions of other organizations; editing and finalizing recommendations and rationale statements. Other projects may involve developing implementation materials for PPIP aimed at patients, clinicians, health plans, employers or policy makers and secondary research on guideline methodology and development. Residents have the opportunity to participate in a variety of AHRQ meetings, conferences and seminars, including the USPSTF meetings, as well as didactic teaching and journal club sessions focusing on current issues and updates in clinical preventive medicine and evidence-based research. Additionally, they have the opportunity to propose and participate in intramural research projects on relevant issues of interest. A useful website to learn more about the USPSTF can be accessed using this link: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm.

 

Selected Projects

For topics under current review, please see the USPSTF website: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf/topicsprog.htm.

 

Current research projects of Preventive Medicine residents include: 1) identifying the time it takes for prevention guidelines to go out of date and the frequency at which they need to be updated, and 2) defining the composition of high-risk groups used in the USPSTF recommendations and the consistency of this composition across guidelines of different panels and organizations.

 

Financial Support

A stipend of $3,000 a month will be paid to the resident, as well as a travel allowance of up to $250 per month to help defray costs of traveling to Rockville, Maryland. An additional administrative allowance of $750 per month will be made available for the residency program. Funds for housing will not be available.

 

For More Information

Questions about the application process and administration should be directed to Scott Galla of APTR.

Email

Phone: (202) 463-0550 ext. 137

 

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