McMaster Health Forum | Embed Supports

As part of our commitment to strengthening health systems and getting the right programs, services and drugs to those who need them, the Forum provides health-system leaders (policymakers and stakeholders) with a variety of resources and services to help them institutionalize promising and proven approaches to evidence-informed policymaking.

Examples of the types of good practices we’ve seen and have supported (or could support) include:

  • strong messages are routinely sent from all levels of the organization that research evidence is a key input to the decision-making process;
  • performance criteria for staff include at least one criterion related to their use of research evidence in policy and program development;
  • a research-evidence checklist must be completed before briefing materials are submitted to the minister, cabinet or other key decision-makers;
  • expert review groups are required to draw on research evidence, involve a methodologist and citizens in their deliberations, and link the recommendations in their reports to the best available research evidence; and
  • journalists closely examine statements made by health-system leaders and identify when they are and are not supported by the best available research evidence.

If you are a health-system leader interested in raising the bar for evidence-informed decision-making in your organization, contact us at forum@mcmaster.ca to find out how we can help through ‘supportive audits,’ external reviews of reports, and adapting resources to the needs of your organization.

Through Forum+, we can provide similar types of support to social-system leaders.

Learn more about how the Forum has helped organizations to embed supports for evidence-informed decision-making.

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