The Guidelines Capacity Enhancement Program is helping boost the development of evidence-based guidelines and their use across Canada.
This initiative is led by Dr. Melissa Brouwers, director of the Program in Evidence-Based Care at Cancer Care Ontario, and is housed at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.
The program, sponsored by the Cancer Guidelines Action Group of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, is helping people get the skills needed to understand and apply guideline information in a meaningful way.
It will:
• Contribute to SAGE, a high-quality and up-to-date database of cancer control guidelines and resources, available through Cancer View Canada.
• Build communities of guideline developers and health-care professionals who champion the use of evidence-based decision-making.
• Foster the sharing of knowledge and best practices and create training opportunities.
To meet these targets, the program has relationships with several groups whose goals align closely with the objectives of the project. These include the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University.
Formal partnerships with evidence-based organizations such as the Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre and the Guidelines International Network (GIN) are also in place. These relationships help create an environment of collaboration across organizations and will help the program meet its core objectives:
1. An inventory of cancer guidelines
2. A training, education and skills acquisition program
