Evidence-based health practice applies the scientific method to use the best available evidence—from physical exams, diagnostic reviews, medical research, and known risks and benefits of treatment options—when making medical decisions. RAND has investigated the impact of adopting evidence-based health practices on patient care and health care policies, and the greater implications of using a national quality measurement and reporting system.
COMMENTARY
Many organizations that we have worked with indicate that this approach has helped improve reporting and communication both within and external to their organization, writes Sarah Hunter.
REPORT
Safe Start Promising Approaches (SSPA) is the second phase of a community-based initiative focused on developing and fielding interventions to prevent and reduce the impact of children's exposure to violence. This report shares the results of SSPA, which was intended to implement and evaluate promising and evidence-based programs in 15 program sites across the country.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Comparative effectiveness reviews need to be regularly updated as new evidence is produced. Lack of attention to updating may lead to outdated and sometimes misleading conclusions that compromise health care and policy decisions.
RESEARCH BRIEF
RAND's evaluation of Safe Start Promising Approaches identified program successes and challenges in implementing programs for children exposed to violence. The evaluation results, though largely inconclusive, can inform similar efforts going forward.
PROJECT
How does policy support science and how does science in turn support policy? What works in terms of funding science and in maximizing academic, social and economic 'payback' from investment in science? RAND Europe is a leader in understanding the returns from different kinds of investment in science and research.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
A paradigm shift involving acknowledgement of the value of clinicians in the context of community research, establishment of a stable infrastructure to support a cohort of clinicians across time and research studies, and realignment of incentives to encourage participation in clinical research is required.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
New National Institutes of Health policies call for expansion of practice-based research to improve the clinical research enterprise and facilitate dissemination of evidence-based medicine. This paper describes organizational strategies that influence clinicians' decisions to participate in clinical research.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This report addresses the need for clearer understanding of the evidence base regarding the effectiveness and context-sensitivity of patient safety practices and presents recommendations for future research on this topic.
REPORT
To learn how hospital labor and delivery units can achieve effective and sustainable teamwork practices and how much such practices affect staff experiences and patient outcomes, RAND researchers studied five units as they implemented improvements in their teamwork practices over a one-year period. They identified some key factors required by any given strategy for teamwork improvement but no standard template for implementation.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Many depressed patients are receiving recommended psychotherapy but better tools are needed to monitor and improve the quality of usual psychotherapeutic care.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Giving incentives to mental health clinicians in managed behavioral health organizations to provide evidence-based care is feasible, but administrative barriers and limited clinical data may make implementation challenging.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This project has implemented successful interventions to improve the quality of life and reduce disparities for children with asthma in Puerto Rico.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This article reports on a formative evaluation of efforts to build community-based prevention capacity in two states (Tennessee and Missouri) using an Internet-based system known as interactive Getting To Outcomes® (iGTO).
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This study found that social marketing, which applies marketing techniques to promote behavioral change, is a promising approach for promoting implementation of evidence-based interventions in integrated healthcare systems.
REPORT
This brochure describes the Health Research Observatory, whose mission is to provide insights to support evidence-based decision making in the policy and practice of health research through identifying and assessing international evidence.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Discusses implementing evidence-based treatments for ethnically diverse youths.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The effective dissemination and implementation of evidence-based health interventions within community settings is an important cornerstone to expanding the availability of quality health and mental health services.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Drawing from their collective experience, the authors outline a series of steps that can help reviewers reach reasoned decisions about the incorporation of existing systematic reviews and enumerate potential hazards to consider in doing so.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Numerous challenges persist in providing evidence-based treatments to children and families in community-based settings.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Communities are increasingly being required by state and federal funders to achieve outcomes and be accountable, yet are often not provided the guidance or the tools needed to successfully meet this challenge. To improve the likelihood of achieving positive outcomes, the Getting To Outcomes (GTO) intervention (manual, training, technical assistance) is designed to provide the necessary guidance and tools, tailored to community needs, in…
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2012 RAND Corporation.