Custom-Tailored Workforce Development

Start your team’s journey with an introduction to EIDM and learn why it matters. This session takes a high-level approach to explore how EIDM came to be and why it’s a critical component of effective public health practice. We highly recommend this session for teams with members who may be wary of EIDM and changing their practice.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• describe the origins of the evidence-based movement in health practice;
• explain why EIDM matters in public health;
• discuss models for EIDM; and
• apply EIDM models to real-world examples in public health in Canada.

Here’s what participants say about this workshop:

“Excellent facilitation, true-to-life examples.”

“The workshop helped me to have a better understanding of the different evidence-informed decision making models, and which ones I could use to incorporate evidence-based research into my work.”

“[The workshop] will also help to recognize better quality resources, which are trustworthy and are evidence-based.”

Public health decision making draws on different sources of evidence and follows a systematic decision-making process. Models for EIDM outline evidence to consider and steps to follow, but it can be challenging to apply these models in different situations. In this session, you will learn how to apply EIDM models and integrate evidence from various sources into each step of the decision-making process. You will engage in several real-world public health decision-making situations and explore how to integrate evidence from various sources into the decision-making process.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• describe models for EIDM;
• discuss example pathways using EIDM models; and
• integrate EIDM models in decision-making pathways.

Here’s what participants say about this workshop:

“This was the best, most practical workshop I’ve attended.”

“Facilitators were knowledgeable, professional, and proficient.”

“I like that we used examples taken from our context.”

“The workshop was to the point, and the relevant examples made it more engaging.”

Rapid reviews are a popular approach to inform time-sensitive public health decisions with synthesized evidence. In this workshop, you will use hand-on, practice-based examples to learn how to plan and conduct the steps required for rapid reviews. You will also gain resources to conduct high-quality, efficient reviews to support EIDM.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• describe various review types used in public health;
• define actionable review questions;
• develop plans for searching for references and use software for screening them;
• apply key considerations in quality assessment of evidence; and
• identify approaches for synthesizing findings and making recommendations for practice.

Here’s what participants say about this workshop:

“Great 'hands-on' activities to build skills.”

“Very well structured and working through examples together was excellent!”

Make friends with statistical results! This workshop uses a participant-driven learning approach to refresh your knowledge and understanding of everyday statistical concepts in public health. You will learn how to read forest plots and gain the confidence to effectively communicate public health research findings with decision makers.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• describe types of data used in public health research;
• interpret dichotomous data from forest plots, such as odds ratios and other ratios;
• interpret continuous data from forest plots, such as standardized mean differences; and
• compare confidence intervals and communicate findings.

Here’s what participants say about this workshop:

“It was very interactive, the speaker was engaging, and the pace was excellent to really understand the concepts.”

“It was the right amount of detail and skipped over details that were not relevant.”

“[The workshop provided] clear, step-by-step instructions on how to interpret research.”

“[The facilitator] was very engaging and knowledgeable. Appreciated the opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification.”

Our most popular workshop is available as a focused session for your team. This highly engaging session helps you dust off those EIDM skills and review key concepts and resources. We’ll cover all things evidence, with additional focus on your team’s unique decision-making context. Leave with a cohesive, evidence-informed team ready to face public health’s next challenges.

By the end of this session, you will be able to

• describe sources of evidence and how they inform public health decisions;
• define a clearly focused, answerable research question;
• identify efficiencies in searching for evidence;
• apply key considerations in quality assessment of evidence; and
• identify resources to support adapting, implementing and evaluating an intervention.

Here’s what participants say about this workshop:

“I have been struggling trying to communicate this information to my team. This workshop covered everything I would like them to know about finding and using evidence to help guide decisions. Thank you!”

“I'm glad my whole team attended, and I know we will put the knowledge, tools/resources we learned about to good use.”

“I thought this was a fantastic workshop. In fact—I think more…should have attended as it is so directly connected to our work.”

Ready for the next step? This workshop will walk your team through the review process with hands-on examples relevant to your context. We’ll discuss various approaches to evidence synthesis, how to prioritize your team’s review questions and how to strike a balance between timeline and scope. The session is designed for public health teams that conduct evidence syntheses or reviews.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• develop a focused research question and inform an efficient search strategy;
• use software to support article selection;
• apply key considerations for critical appraisal;
• describe processes for extracting data for included articles;
• identify approaches to synthesizing findings and making recommendations for practice; and
• tailor synthesis approaches to balance needs and resource restrictions.

Here’s what participants say about this workshop:

“I liked the interactive parts where we got to try out the new methods, and techniques. The presenters were very knowledgeable—you can tell they ‘really know their stuff.’”

“The session was well organized, interactive, and in plain language. Thanks!”

“It was interactive with concrete examples—the organizers were also able to answer specific questions.”

“The mix of participation and presentation to keep us engaged. It was helpful to actually go through a PICO question and in the small groups decide which studies would be kept or excluded.”

Now that you’ve decided to change practice, what’s next? This workshop provides hands-on guidance through the steps involved in planning, implementing and evaluating change. The session is designed for teams that implement and evaluate public health programs or projects.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• adapt programs to the local context;
• follow the steps for developing an implementation plan; and
• describe considerations for planning and collecting data for evaluation.

Here’s what participants say about this workshop:

“I didn't realize there was so much to implementation. It was helpful to have it broken down into the more specific steps of gap analysis and adapt.”

“I liked the concrete example that was used throughout and built upon as the workshop progressed, it helped to conceptualize the work.”

“I liked the mention of other resources and tools that we could use to implement/help us with the various steps.”