Fostering research uptake and evidence-use in applied clinical settings

Abstract

Radiation Therapy health care practitioners need access to actionable, evidence-based, and solution-focused research in order to make the best clinical decisions possible. This paper presents a qualitative case study which tested and explored an existing physician-orientated literature synthesis website to see in what ways it was beneficial for non-physician practitioners as a resource that could possibly also satisfy their needs. A case study and online survey questionnaire were used to gather data in order to ensure realistic workplace recommendations came from the study. The majority of surveyed practitioners were in-favour of research uptake and evidence-use to support their clinical decisions, but many barriers hinder their ability to do so including departmental structure and organization of the workplace environment, the minimal or lack of value placed on research, and limited professional development opportunities. The study finds that the implementation of a literature synthesis website has the potential to be a viable solution for practitioners to bring about evidence-based changes, support their needs to perform to higher standards, and lead departments towards best practice.