A multifaceted intervention to facilitate health professional's use of evidence based medicine: an evaluator-blinded randomised controlled trial.

The multifaceted intervention included a 3 day workshop, and workplace supports intranet resource summarising research evidence and mentoring. The 3-day workshop used the interface of the intranet resource and real clinical examples to educate participants about how to apply research findings to their day to day work. The first 2-days of the workshop were held on consecutive days, with day-3 of the workshop being 8-weeks later. This enabled participants to practice skills that they learned on day-1 and day-2, and to prepare a case study to present in small groups on day-3. The workshop part of the intervention was 8-weeks in duration. The intranet resource synthesized the latest Cerebral Palsy research and presented using a traffic light system corresponding to evidence levels. It also included clinical decision making tools, information about assessment and prognosis related to Cerebral Palsy. The intranet resource was available from the day of the first workshop, and access to it was available to any employee at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance at any time. Managers and clinical seniors provided mentoring to support the use and implementation of the intranet resource and information from the workshops. Managers and clinical seniors attended training and preparation for this via regular meetings for one-year prior to the workshops being conducted. This mentoring was offered to participants from the first day of the workshop. It is ongoing, mandatory and is provided via regular sessions with each health professional.