Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children provides specialized services for child rehabilitation in British Columbia, with a focus on the provision of tertiary services to children with developmental disabilities as well as a mandate for education, research and professional development. To address the latter, the health centre has developed resources, tools and supports for clinical evidence based practice through the on-site Child Development and Rehabilitation Evidence Centre as well as a recently developed web-based initiative, within the virtual Child Development and Rehabilitation Centre called the Evidence Centre:
The Evidence Centre website provides a comprehensive web-based toolkit to support Evidence Based Practice (EBP) needs of clinicians working in the field of child development & rehabilitation. Use of the Evidence Centre (EC) toolkit allows clinicians to better determine the state of the evidence for priority clinical questions, and to apply this to practice. Use of the EC toolkit helps clinicians further refine their EBP with the children, families and communities that they service.
Clinicians are familiar with the 5 steps of EBP (Sackett, 2000) that allow integration of best evidence into clinical practice. These steps are all embedded in the EC process. Clinicians use the tools in the toolbox as they engage in the 5 steps of EBP. The tools include flow charts that outline the process of each step, with linked resources for guidance; forms and worksheets for each step of the process; templates to promote consistency in content, format and quality; information sheets to educate clinicians on an EBP topic; and process documents to provide a framework for carrying out each EBP activity.
A unique feature of the EC is the embedded use of an adapted traffic lighting framework (Novak, 2012), called the “Traffic Lighting Classification Scale”. This scale helps translate appraisal findings of the most up-to-date evidence into clinically friendly terms expressed in an easily readable format in order to assist in decision-making and determining next steps (Novak, 2012). The highest levels of evidence for a body of literature are graded as Green, Yellow or Red (Novak, 2012).
Green GO: High-quality evidence exists supporting the effectiveness of this intervention - therefore use this approach as it is proven effective.
Yellow MEASURE: Insufficient evidence, no evidence or conflicting evidence exists supporting the effectiveness of this intervention - therefore measure the outcomes of intervention carefully when using this approach to ensure the goal is met.
Red STOP: High-quality evidence exists demonstrating this intervention is ineffective - therefore do not use this approach as it is proven ineffective.
“The traffic codes provide a simple common language that can be used by therapists, researchers, managers, and families to develop a shared understanding of the implications of best-available evidence” (Novak, 2012, p.3).
Please feel free to access this no-cost EBP resource at:
References:
Novak, I. (2012) Evidence to Practice Commentary: The Evidence Alert Traffic Lighting Grading System. Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 32, 256-259.
Sackett DL, Straus S, Richardson WS, Rosenberg W, Haynes B (2000) Evidence-Based Medicine. How to Practice and Teach EBM. Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone
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