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Introduction to Health Services Research : A Self-Study Course
Module 3: Selected Players (Federal and Private) (Page 13 of 27)
Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) (http://www.aamc.org/), founded in 1876, conducts research and compiles and disseminates data on medical schools, students, faculty members, and teaching hospitals. A variety of publications are also available. It is "a nonprofit association of medical schools, teaching hospitals, and academic societies" whose purpose is to "improve the nation's health by enhancing the effectiveness of academic medicine."
Medical Education
The Medical Education link features the latest AAMC medical education initiatives. MedEdPORTAL and Grants and Awards are two of the sections highlighted. MedEdPORTAL provides all the information a potential medical student might need to prepare for diverse careers in patient care, teaching and research. Within the portal, prospective medical students are encouraged to use the Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (TACCT) resource.
Medical Research
Medical Research describes the work done by researchers at various medical schools and academic institutions. Of particular interest to researchers is the Principles for Protecting Integrity in the Conduct and Reporting of Clinical Trials link. Also linked is information on conflicts of interest and medical research initiatives and publications.
AAMC also conducts an HSR Institute and trains women and people of color to conduct health services research. Other initiatives include protection of human subjects in research and research integrity.
Data and Resources
The Data and Analysis section of the site offers data organized into four broad areas:
- Faculty
- Applicants, Students, and Residents
- Workforce Data and Reports
- Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals
Students and Residents
Look for the FACTS - Applicants, Matriculants, and Graduates tables. These tables are very comprehensive sources of information regarding medical school applicants, matriculants, and graduates. This data are available to the public free of charge.
Institutional Operations
The AAMC Organizational Characteristics Database (logon/password required) maintains descriptive data on medical educational institutions. This database has more than 25 data fields for each U.S. medical school, collected since 1961. Data include such items as geographical information, organization and governance, faculty practice plan and integrated hospitals. Other tables and resources list medical school tuition and student fees, medical school financing, expenditures, state appropriations, revenues, endowments, and 10-Year trends of Federal grants and contracts (direct) to name some of the tables available for study.
The Faculty Roster System (FAMOUS) begun in 1966 to support national policy studies contains data from accredited allopathic U.S. medical schools for over 113,000 current medical school faculty members and includes such information as personal and professional background. Over 122,000 inactive faculty are retained in the database for research purposes.
The systems are frequently updated and contain analytical functions. There is a fee for content and services.
Published Reports
AAMC publishes journals, newsletters and various statistical publications. Of interest to health services researchers are the following titles: AAMC Data Book, AAMC Reporter, Academic Medicine, AAMC Publications and AAMC STAT.
Patient Care
Patient Care is important to AAMC. AAMC represents the nation's nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems and their associated clinical physicians. Of interest to practitioners and librarians is the Faculty Practice Solutions Center Annual Report and Economic Contributions of Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals, both of which are AAMC's patient care initiatives.
Notification Services
Subscribe here to sign up to receive "Short, Topical and Timely" (STAT) information. The site also offers News Releases (including an archive of news releases) and the AAMC Reporter.
Discussion Questions
- The AAMC site has a page devoted to publications. Is this page of any use to you? The page is organized so that you can find publications in a variety of ways. Is this helpful?
- Can you search for publication in a search engine devoted to publications - or must you search the entire Web site? Does this make it easier or harder to find a relevant publication?
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