J. Michael McGinnis, MD, Senior Vice President, Health Group, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, P.O. Box 2316, College Road East and Route 1, Princeton, NJ 08543, 609-627-5840, mcginnis@rwjf.org

Much needed in times of increasing expectations with shrinking budgets, the Community Guide provides evidence to make smart, timely and effective programmatic decisions. While evidence for decision making in health has become lingua franca in the medical community, the complexity of public health interventions and the important differences in research methods have contributed to a slower adoption of evidence-based public health. The Community Guide will contribute to public health an equivalent level of scrutiny and evidence-based findings that the seminal Guide to Clinical Preventive Services did for the field of clinical care when it was released in 1988.

The Community Guide findings hold promise for an improvement in public health and for identifying interventions that are effective. Many public health interventions lack adequate scientific evaluate to determine whether they do or do not result in changes to health outcomes. Examining the research critically, as the Community Guide does, helps us know which practices are based on evidence and which should be the focus of additional study. The absence of strong evidence is in itself a call to action in terms of setting the research agenda and focusing research on interventions that may hold promise, but simply need improved evidence.

Ultimately, these findings are useful only to the degree that they are applied. It is the responsibility of the public health community to be diligent as well as innovative in the promotion and utilization of this resource.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will understand the potential impact of the Community Guide on the field of public health and in particular on important issues such as reducing health disparities

Keywords: Community Preventive Services, Public Health Movements

Related Web page: www.thecommunityguide.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.