APTR-AHRQ Preventive Medicine Residency Rotations
Due to decisions of the current administration, this program is paused indefinitely.
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Since 1993, the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) offered rotations for preventive medicine residents and primary care residents with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Program, based at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The clinical preventive medicine rotation at AHRQ provided an in-depth experience in the process of developing evidence-based recommendations. Residents worked closely with AHRQ staff and USPSTF members on a variety of activities such as: participating in scoping of clinical preventive services (CPS) topics; researching information on epidemiology and burden of preventable conditions addressed by CPS; reviewing and summarizing external comments on draft recommendations; researching positions of other organizations; and editing and finalizing recommendations and rationale statements. Other projects involved developing implementation materials for USPSTF recommendations aimed at patients, clinicians, health plans, employers or policy makers.
Residents had the opportunity to participate in a variety of AHRQ meetings, conferences and seminars, including the USPSTF meetings and virtual calls with USPSTF members, as well as didactic teaching and journal club sessions focusing on current issues and updates in clinical preventive medicine and evidence-based research.
Learning Objectives
- Describe the methodology and processes the USPSTF uses to develop evidence-based guidelines.
- Explain how to design a systematic evidence review to evaluate clinical preventive services.
- Critically appraise evidence to inform recommendations on clinical preventive services.
- Identify critical gaps in the evidence on clinical preventive services.
- Identify benefits and harms of providing clinical preventive services and assess the overall balance of benefits and harms.
- Describe how to translate evidence into a clinical preventive service recommendation.
- Demonstrate the ability to communicate clinical preventive services recommendations to consumers, health care professionals and the media.
- Identify key stakeholders for USPSTF recommendations.
- Assist in dissemination and implementation of USPSTF recommendations.
Preventive Medicine Milestones Addressed by Rotation
- Describe how policies and plans are developed and implemented to support the health of individuals and communities.
- Examine the quality and strength of evidence of a clinical preventive service.
- Assess evidence for population-based health services.
- Critique epidemiologic studies, including assessing external and internal validity and distinguishing between association and causation.
- Identify system factors that lead to patient safety events.
- Describe quality improvement concepts.
About AHRQ
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the safety and quality of America's health care system. AHRQ develops the knowledge, tools, and data needed to improve the health care system and help Americans, health care professionals, and policymakers make informed health decisions. The AHRQ mission is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Created in 1984, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. The Task Force works to improve the health of all Americans by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling on health-related behaviors, and preventive medications. Task Force members come from the fields of preventive medicine and primary care, including internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, behavioral health, obstetrics and gynecology, and nursing. Their recommendations are based on a rigorous review of existing peer-reviewed evidence and are intended to help primary care clinicians and patients decide together whether a preventive service is right for a patient's needs. In addition to making evidence-based recommendation on clinical preventive services, each year, the Task Force makes a report to Congress that identifies critical evidence gaps in research related to clinical preventive services and recommends priority areas that deserve further examination. All recommendations are published on the Task Force website and/or in a peer-reviewed journal.