Building a culture of evidence-informed decision making in the community

Growing fiscal pressures on health departments both provincially and locally necessitate tough decisions to be made. Although evidence-informed decision making may be commonly used for clinical decision making, the notion of evidence-informed decision making for managing physician office practice processes, primary care, long-term care, or continuing care is limited. In healthcare, much data are collected, yet only a small percentage is actually used in meaningful ways. The Executive Training for Research Application (EXTRA) program strives to not only assist healthcare executives in acquiring necessary skills but also aims to lead cultural change in the Canadian healthcare system. This article describes three brief examples in which a vice president and director with EXTRA training have started to explore and use data to drive change in the community.