WACHS Library: Find Point of Care / Evidence & Guidelines: Evidence-Based Practice Resources

Evidence-Based Practice Resources

Evidence-based databases are also referred to as synthesised databases and provide some type of evidence-based analysis, synthesis and/or summary of a particular topic, study or question that will aid in evidence-based decision making.

ACCESSSS Smart Search. Best Evidence for Health Care

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window

Epistemonikos
TRIP (Turning Research into Practice)
A clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care. It searches sources such as systematic reviews, clinical guidelines and RCTs and results are ranked against the evidence pyramid. NB: This is the free version of the resource so some features are not available.

Emergency medicine

BestBETS

Speech Pathology

speechBITE This link opens in a new window
Speech Pathology Database for Interventions and Treatment Efficacy: Intervention studies across the scope of speech pathology practice

Occupational therapy

OTSeeker This link opens in a new window
OTseeker is a database that contains abstracts of systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials and other resources relevant to occupational therapy interventions.

Rehabilitation

REHABDATA This link opens in a new window
The REHABDATA database spans almost 50 years of disability and rehabilitation research. It is managed by the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), part of the US Federal National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)

Disability

REHABDATA This link opens in a new window
The REHABDATA database spans almost 50 years of disability and rehabilitation research. It is managed by the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), part of the US Federal National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)

Physiotherapy

DiTA (Diagnostic Test Accuracy) database [for physiotherapy] This link opens in a new window
PEDro This link opens in a new window
Physiotherapy Evidence Database. PEDro is a free database of over 32,000 randomised trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. PEDro is produced by the Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy at The George Institute for Global Health

Mental health

NeuroBITE (previously PsycBITE) This link opens in a new window
A database that catalogues studies of cognitive, behavioural and other treatments for psychological problems and issues occurring as a consequence of acquired brain impairment (ABI). These studies are rated for their methodological quality, evaluating various aspects of scientific rigour.

Evidence-informed Practice

What is Evidence-informed Practice?

Evidence-informed clinical practice involves integrating the best external evidence, your clinical expertise and patient values and expectations.
Evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) is "the process of distilling and disseminating the best available evidence from research, practice and experience and using that evidence to inform and improve public health policy and practice. Put simply, it means finding, using and sharing what works in public health". [Evidence-informed decision-making: Information and tools [web-page]. Canadian Best Practices Portal. Accessed 2016 Aug]
Evidence-informed public health "involves integrating the best available research evidence into the decision-making process and using that evidence to inform and improve public health practice and policy. Additional factors – community health issues and local context; community and political preferences and actions; and public health resources – create the environment in which that research evidence is interpreted and applied" [A model for evidence-informed decision-making in public health. Fact sheet. 2012 - National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools. Accessed 2016 Nov 10].
Evidence-informed public policy - 'The major goal of EIPP development is to ensure that the experience, expertise and judgment of decision-makers is supported and resourced with the best available objective evidence and systematic research. Policy research is not expected to produce the solutions or decisions. It is meant to provide accurate, reliable and credible information, knowledge and analysis to inform public policy. The knowledge base it produces provides an important ingredient for the policy development process to reduce risk and improve outcomes, but it is not a substitute for the process. [Townsend T, Kunimoto B. Capacity, collaboration and culture: The future of the policy research function in the Government of Canada. [Canada]: Government of Canada. Policy Research Initiative. 2009 Mar. Accessed Jul 7 2021]
Evidence-informed management - "the starting point for evidence-based management is that management decisions should be based on a combination of critical thinking and the best available evidence. And by "evidence", we mean information, facts, or data supporting (or contradicting) a claim, assumption or hypothesis. Evidence may come from scientific research, but internal business information, and even professional experience can count as "evidence". In principle, then, all managers base their decisions on 'evidence'." [Center for Evidence Based Management. What is evidence-based management? [Web-page]. Accessed 2016 Aug 15]