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Department of
ResearchThe Department of Research addresses important questions regarding
pediatric practice and the health and well being of children by developing original
research and analyzing information from existing databases. The Department provides
staff support to the AAP Committee on Pediatric Research. Department staff also
serve in a consultative capacity to selected other Academy projects and initiatives
that include a research component. In addition, the Department of Research administers
the Resident Research Grant Program,
providing residents an opportunity to initiate and complete research projects.
Two divisions are housed within the Department of Research: the Division of Health
Services Research and the Division of Primary Care Research. The Child Health
Measurement Project is also located within the Department.
The Division
of Health Services Research carries out projects that provide a variety of data
on the characteristics of pediatricians and the health services provided to children.
The Division houses the Periodic
Survey of Fellows that routinely gathers data from AAP members on current
topics in pediatrics and the Graduating
Resident Survey that monitors residents' training and job search experiences.
The Division also conducts research on children's
health insurance, the pediatric workforce,
and health literacy. The Division of Primary Care Research is the home of
the Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS)
program. Established in 1986, PROS is the Academy's practice-based research network
designed to improve the health of children by conducting collaborative research
with almost 2,000 practitioner members from across the United States, Canada and
Puerto Rico to enhance primary care practice. Staff from the division provide
technical expertise and support for the execution of research projects developed
by the network. PROS practitioners and researchers work together to generate research
questions, design study materials and protocols, obtain research funding, collect
study data, analyze collected data and publish results. Since its inception, PROS
has studied child health topics as diverse as the prevalence of preschool vision
screening, the onset of secondary sexual characteristics in young girls and the
immunization status of children seen in private practice. The network is currently
working on a variety of projects, including studies on practitioner evaluation
and management of injuries suspicious for abuse, development and testing of an
intervention to help prevent child violence, and testing of interventions to address
underimmunization of African Americans. Any physician, nurse practitioner, or
physician assistant in practice with an AAP Fellow is eligible to join
PROS. Practitioners must have completed their training. The Child
Health Measurement Project (CHMP) is a multifaceted effort to enhance and
advance the field of pediatric health measurement. Project activities include
the development, testing, and dissemination of instruments for several of the
most common and/or severe pediatric illnesses/conditions, as well as efforts to
understand the complexities of children as reporters of their own health status.
The Child Health Measurement Project is also involved in work aimed at rethinking
the ways in which well-child care is currently provided.
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