The EIDM Casebook: Issue 4

Do you or your team have a success story involving evidence-informed decision making (EIDM)?
If so, we would love to hear from you!

Story Submission

The call for stories will remain open until Friday, February 27^th, 2026.
Click here to download the submission form.

Submissions can be sent to nccmt@mcmaster.ca.

Making the Case for the Casebook

Selected cases will be featured in the NCCMT’s online EIDM Casebook. Submit your story to contribute to the field of evidence-informed public health and help build new partnerships and connections. Selected stories will also contribute to the NCCMT’s 2025-26 evaluation of the impact of EIDM on public health organizations in Canada. Learnings and themes across the four volumes of case examples will be integrated into a legacy document reflecting 20 years of NCCMT.

For more information on how to submit an abstract for consideration in the EIDM Casebook, please review the Eligibility Criteria and Submission Process below.

Eligibility Criteria

The focus of the story should be an initiative to implement EIDM in public health. Whether your story is about a practice change within your team or a large-scale change initiative across multiple practice areas, lessons learned from your initiative could be useful to others.

An EIDM initiative is defined here as a strategy, intervention or program that supports the EIDM process in practice, policy and decision making. An EIDM initiative may be intended to address an issue at the individual, organization or systems levels. Examples of EIDM initiatives could include:

implementing a strategic initiative to develop organizational capacity for EIDM;
using evidence to shape practice in a public health field;
promoting the uptake of the best available evidence into practice (i.e., best practice guidelines, systematic reviews); and
applying policy-influence strategies to get the best available evidence integrated into the policy process.

Submission Process

Send us a brief submission, using the template below. Your submission should include a short description of your initiative and explain how it was intended to enhance public health practice, policy or capacity through the use of evidence.

An external and internal committee will review the submissions and make decisions regarding inclusion in the casebook.

We are interested in stories about EIDM initiatives in any public health topic area, drawn from public health staff, managers, decision makers, policy makers, researchers or students. Authors of submissions will be contacted and interviewed to develop their story fully. Applicants may submit multiple stories. The NCCMT will consider submissions from individuals, teams or organizations.

Story Outline – The NCCMT will develop your story based on your input

The outline below describes what stories may focus on; stories need not cover every aspect listed.

	Possible areas to address
Describe the problem your team faced.	Where did the problem originate, or what led to its identification?
	What other relevant problems/burdens/threats are associated with this issue (health outcomes, budgets, etc.)?
	Is there a business imperative or strategic advantage for addressing the problem?
Describe the efforts (intervention/program/strategy) your team took to address the problem.	Describe your initiative’s project objective(s). - What outcomes were your team aiming for?
	Does this initiative address an important problem or critical barrier to progress in the field? - Is it topical or relevant to current public health gaps/priorities?
	Provide a full description of the initiative, so that it could be replicated by others. - What were the components of the initiative?
	How was the initiative influenced by evidence? - What was the source of the evidence? - How did you find and use evidence to support or direct your initiative?
Describe the implementation of your initiative.	Was your organization ready for the change? - Did this initiative represent a change in organizational direction or priority?
	Was the initiative piloted on a small scale or for a limited time before being scaled up? Was pilot/feasibility testing used to make improvements to the initiative?
	Describe the implementation process. - How was the initiative delivered? - What, if any, structural or process changes were undertaken to implement the initiative? - What steps were taken to support the initiative? - What resources were needed to implement the initiative? - Who led or was involved in the implementation of the initiative?
	Was the initiative implemented as originally planned? If not, what revisions were made to the implementation plan?
	Did your team encounter any barriers while implementing the initiative? How were these barriers assessed and addressed?
	Were any methods or tools used to facilitate implementation?
	Is there a plan in place to sustain the initiative?
Describe your team’s evaluation methods and results (if any).	Describe any methods your team used to monitor and evaluate both the initiative and its implementation.
	Provide a summary of the evaluation results (e.g., impact, reach, use, etc.).
Reflect on your team’s process and outcomes.	Briefly describe your initiative’s successes. - How can your team expand upon the success(es) of this initiative?
	Identify the steps that did not go as well as planned. - Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
	What advice would you give to other teams interested in undertaking a similar initiative?
Impact of evidence-informed decision making.	How did the use of evidence guide or change your practice? What impact has using evidence had on your organization?