Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117182

Janelle Guirguis-Blake, MD, Program Director, US Preventive Services Task Force, Center for Primary Care, Prevention and Clinical Partnerships, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 540 Gaither Rd, Rockville, MD 20850 and Elizabeth Edgerton, MD, MPH, Center for Primary Care, Prevention and Clinical Partnerships, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Director, Clinical Prevention, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850, 301-427-1638, eedgerto@ahrq.gov.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), is the leading independent panel of nationally renowned, non-federal experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. Its recommendations are considered the "gold standard" for clinical preventive services.

In this session, we will provide a brief history of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), including a discussion of its relationship to the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) and Evidenced-based Practice Centers (EPCs). The session will focus on describing the USPSTF methodology and current recommendations. Specifically, the recommendation development process will be reviewed using examples from recent topics walking through the steps: creation of the analytic framework, systematic literature review, evidence grading, and final recommendation deliberation. We will highlight the latest methodology in updating USPSTF topics. We will present recent topic releases and discuss clinical implications of implementing these recommendations. We will describe the resources available for preventive medicine teachers and students to access USPSTF recommendations including the AHRQ website, PDA and future publications.

Learning Objectives:

• • Be familiar with the work of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)
• • Understand the utility and application of recommended interventions and “insufficient evidence” findings
• • Understand how evidence-based findings can be implemented practically in clinical settings

Keywords: Clinical Prevention Services, Evidence Based Practice

Related Web page: www.ahrq.gov/clinic/prevenix.htm

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.