Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Effective preventive and screening interventions have not been widely adopted in emergency departments (EDs). Barriers to knowledge translation of these initiatives include lack of knowledge of current evidence, perceived lack of efficacy, and resource availability. To address this challenge, the Academic Emergency Medicine 2007 Consensus Conference, "Knowledge Translation in Emergency Medicine: Establishing a Research Agenda and Guide Map for Evidence Uptake," convened a public health focus group. ⋯ Because additional research in this area is needed, a research agenda for this important topic was also developed. The ED provides medical care to a unique population, many with increased needs for preventive care. Because these individuals may have limited access to screening and preventive interventions, wider adoption of these initiatives may improve the health of this vulnerable population.
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A workshop session from the 2007 Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference, Knowledge Translation in Emergency Medicine: Establishing a Research Agenda and Guide Map for Evidence Uptake, focused on developing a research agenda for continuing medical education (CME) in knowledge transfer. Based on quasi-Delphi methodology at the conference session, and subsequent electronic discussion and refinement, the following recommendations are made: 1) Adaptable tools should be developed, validated, and psychometrically tested for needs assessment. 2) "Point of care" learning within a clinical context should be evaluated as a tool for practice changes and improved knowledge transfer. 3) The addition of a CME component to technological platforms, such as search engines and databases, simulation technology, and clinical decision-support systems, may help knowledge transfer for clinicians or increase utilization of these tools and should, therefore, be evaluated. 4) Further research should focus on identifying the appropriate outcomes for physician CME. Emergency medicine researchers should transition from previous media-comparison research agendas to a more rigorous qualitative focus that takes into account needs assessment, instructional design, implementation, provider change, and care change. 5) In the setting of continued physician learning, barriers to the subsequent implementation of knowledge transfer and behavioral changes of physicians should be elicited through research.
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To examine the spread of new techniques of spinal care through one state's emergency departments (EDs). ⋯ Although logic and the medical literature support removing all patients from a backboard immediately, physicians were unlikely to change their practice after their formal training had been completed until a new member of their group had done so.
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The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality actively funds and conducts research to improve health care for all Americans. This article is intended to provide a brief overview of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality activities in knowledge translation and to accompany the presentation given on May 15, 2007, to the Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference, "Knowledge Translation in Emergency Medicine: Establishing a Research Agenda and Guide Map for Evidence Uptake."
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Little is known about knowledge translation in the practice of out-of-hospital medicine. It is generally accepted that much work is needed regarding "getting the evidence straight" in emergency medical services, given the substantial number of interventions that are performed regularly in the field but lack meaningful scientific support. Additional attention also needs to be given to "getting the evidence used," because there is some evidence that evidence-based practices are being incompletely or incorrectly applied in the field. In an effort to help advance a research agenda for knowledge translation in emergency medical services, nine recommendations are put forth to help address the problems identified.