Evaluating the effectiveness of knowledge brokers in facilitating occupational therapists to use evidence in practice in Singapore

Abstract

Background: Evidence based practice (EBP) is important as it is associated with better patient outcomes and more effective delivery of healthcare service. The Ministry of Health in Singapore has been pushing for the increase of evidence use in practice to advance medical care. However, health care practitioners are not using evidence in practice sufficiently. Evidence has shown that the gap between evidence and practice is a global problem for occupational therapists. Knowledge brokering (KB) is a popular new approach used in western countries to facilitate evidence-based practice. A KB acts as an intermediary between researchers and health care practitioners, helping to overcome the barriers faced by stakeholders in EBP. Process: The review will investigate whether knowledge brokering as an intervention can positively impact EBP in healthcare practitioners. The review will also discuss about the roles of KBs and what some of the barriers and facilitators to the KB approach. Method: A randomised controlled trial (RCT) is proposed to evaluate if the knowledge brokering approach can significantly improve the intervention group's skills in evidence-based practice and their capacity to make evidence based clinical decisions (EIDM) as compared to the control group. This will be measured using the Adapted Fresno Test (AFT) and EIDM self-assessment tool from The Knowledge Network. Limitations: Though there are limitations to the proposed study, it is expected that it will contribute to establishing valuable evidence within occupational therapy and knowledge brokering in healthcare