putting the evidence into practice

Clinical templates provide a link between practice and the evidence base.

Much of our clinical evidence is published in journal papers and guidance documents. What better way of putting that evidence into practice than to use it as the basis for the information tools which practitioners use every working day?

By managing clinical templates as a shared resource, updates to the evidence can make their way into templates and be immediately available for local use.

putting the evidence into practice

Clinical templates provide a link between practice and the evidence base.

Much of our clinical evidence is published in journal papers and guidance documents. What better way of putting that evidence into practice than to use it as the basis for the information tools which practitioners use every working day?

By managing clinical templates as a shared resource, updates to the evidence can make their way into templates and be immediately available for local use.

accessing the knowledge base

It takes huge resources to provide customised links from clinical systems to the knowledge base. In practice, this often means a practitioner accessing an on-line database and having to search for what they need.

Clinical templates can hold links to specific on-line resources- educational material, protocols, guidelines, reviews, journal papers or web sites. The same experts who develop a template can include links to the evidence they have used in building it.

Where customised links aren’t included, the template can provide some context for a more focussed search into a database system, saving time and getting better results.

audit of local practice with the evidence base

If we have clinical templates which describe the content of a form, it is only a small step to use it to collect data.

SnowCloud are developing audit and benchmarking tools which will be available through ClinicalTemplates.org, and will help you download and use templates for data collection.

Many audit tools focus on process or structure by collecting data on facilities and activity, but templates focus on care and outcomes, and can supplement or replace these tools.

improving the evidence base

Clinical templates provide a link between practice and the evidence base- and that link goes both ways. By using standardised tools for data collection, they can support clinical groups in developing or refining the evidence.