Introduction:
What is evidence-informed decision making? Why bother?

(Estimated time: 0.5 hours)

Consider:

•  Billions of dollars are spent annually on health-related research
•  It takes an estimated 15 years to get research into recommended policy and 40% implementation in practice (Antman et al., 2001).
• 30-50% of people received recommended care (Schuster et al., 1998)
• 30-40% of patients do not get treatments of proven effectiveness (Grol, 2001)

We do not know how big the gap is for public health, but have no reason to expect that knowledge translation would be faster, or programs more evidence-based than these acute care statistics.

These statistics give you some perspective on the current
research ► practice gap that exists.

The evidence-based medicine (EBM) movement was born of the realization of the gap, and began an effort to bridge the gaps between

research ► practice
                and
research ► policy

Evidence-informed public health involves integrating the best available research evidence into the decision making process in public health practice and policy development. It offers several potential benefits:

• adoption of the most effective and cost-efficient interventions;
• prudent use of scarce resources;
• improved client satisfaction;
• better health outcomes for individuals and communities.

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