Establishing an AHRQ Learning Collaborative, A White Paper

The AHRQ Learning Collaborative is an effort across institutional health services research (HSR) training programs funded by the Agency for Health Services Research (AHRQ) to foster an ongoing dialogue among program directors, current and past pre- and postdoctoral trainees, program faculty, and AHRQ leadership. The goals of this collaborative are to foster partnerships across institutions; facilitate the exchange of information, networking, and mentoring opportunities; and improve the training of health services researchers by sharing best practices, curricula, and innovative training efforts across institutions. It is worth noting that these goals are a work in progress, and we expect that they will be refined following the release of this white paper. The tasks associated with these goals will be discussed in more detail throughout this white paper and in followup discussions.

This paper provides an overview of relevant theories related to organizational learning and learning collaboratives, highlight some existing learning collaboratives and networks, describe the process of gathering input for the development of an AHRQ Learning Collaborative, and synthesize the findings from that process. In addition, we will then propose next steps for establishing an AHRQ Learning Collaborative.