New AHRQ Initiative Helps Pharmacists and Patients Make Informed Treatment Decisions

The Utah Pharmacists Association has partnered with the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to connect pharmacists with valuable research and educational tools. Tools such as AHRQ’s free, evidence-based treatment summaries help health care professionals and patients learn about treatment options for a wide variety of health conditions. 

These brief summaries, developed by AHRQ’s Effective Health Care (EHC) Program, highlight the findings of research reviews that compare the effectiveness, benefits, and risks of treatment options for many common conditions. The clinician summaries, typically just two pages, provide context about key clinical questions and offer a “Clinical Bottom Line” section that summarizes research conclusions and indicates the strength of evidence behind each finding. Patient summaries are designed to help patients and caregivers understand a variety of health conditions and treatment options. 

To make the best use of AHRQ’s products, you may:

• Review the “Clinical Bottom Line” of each research summary and learn about the strength of evidence behind research findings. Then share the resources with colleagues.
• Make AHRQ’s companion patient treatment summaries available in waiting rooms or encourage patients to visit AHRQ’s EHC Program Web site.
• Participate in a number of free CME/CE activities for pharmacists based on comparative effectiveness research studies, which can be found at www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/tools-and-resources/cmece-activities. 
• Sign up for email updates to stay up to date on AHRQ’s comparative effectiveness research and EHC Program resources. Visit www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov. 

AHRQ also offers podcasts, Web conferences, and educational slide sets. To access these resources and learn more, visit www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov. To order copies of clinician and patient research summaries, call the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse at 800–358–9295 and use code C-02.

Additionally, take a moment to learn more about AHRQ’s new Treatment Options: Explore. Compare. Prepare. initiative which promotes resources to help patients explore treatment options for their health conditions, compare the benefits and risks of each, and prepare to discuss them with their health care providers. For more information about the Treatment Options: Explore. Compare. Prepare. initiative and its free resources, visit at www.ahrq.gov/treatmentoptions.