IOTTT hosted yet another rich discussion on the use of evidence based practice (EBP) in India.
Key conclusions reached included:
• Importance of understanding EBP from a broader perspective.
• Students and practitioners have better access to research data these days and the awareness of how to use EBP is increasing.
• Challenges also exist. Individual factors include time to engage in EBP, motivation, data collection skills, linguistic barriers to access literature and critical appraisal skills.
• There is a pressing need for professional collaborations (formal and informal), mentorship and forming more bridges between researchers and practitioners.
• The OT community would benefit from connecting with healthcare professionals outside the field of OT to identify ways to apply research specific to our Indian context.
• Finally, we noted strategies to overcome barriers, the main themes being generating high quality research in India; disseminating research findings pan India, and intentionally using the power of collaboration to enhance and sustain a culture of EBP.
We hope to continue this discussion on our social media platforms. We therefore invite you to follow and engage with the FB and twitter posts over the coming days.
We look forward to you joining us next time!
Please check our YouTube video for the discussion!