Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has come a long way in the last decade, but the important “next step”–turning scientific knowledge into evidence-based practice (EBP)–is proving to be more of a challenge. At the inaugural Alf Nachemson Lecture, Dr. Jeremy Grimshaw, co-ordinating editor of the Cochrane Collaboration’s Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Review Group, Director of Clinical Epidemiology at the Ottawa Health Research Institute and an expert in evidence-based practice, talks about the misconceptions about and obstacles to evidence-based practice.
The Alf Nachemson Lectureship was launched at the IWH Annual General Meeting on June 16, 2002 in honour of Dr. Alf Nachemson’s significant contribution to research evidence in clinical decision-making. Nachemson, a distinguished orthopedic surgeon and researcher from Sweden, is a founding member of the IWH Research Advisory Committee and was Co-editor of the Institute-based Cochrane Collaboration Back Review Group from 1995 to 2002. Throughout his career, Nachemson has integrated research knowledge into clinical decision-making related to work and health. The lectureship is awarded to a prominent national or international individual who has made a significant and unique contribution to a number of work and health-related themes, including the interface between work and health, the role of evidence in decision-making or evidence-based practice in the prevention of work-relevant injury, illness or disability.