“The importance of conducting high quality research and nurturing younger researchers is key for the future of the profession.” the Guideline Initiative, as indicated on its website, is limited to conditions commonly seen by chiropractors, including adult spinal and extremity disorders, head-ache, pediatric conditions, like scoliosis, and pre-spec-ified objectives, such as assessment and treatment of low back pain. Those who have been on the CCGI website, which was launched in September 2014, find it to be user-friendly and the information contained in it easily di-gestible. Azad, for one, uses the website to talk patients through the guidelines on specific conditions. The pro-cess, she says, doesn’t take very long but patients walk away with renewed confidence that “we have science behind what we do.” Bussières says the website has been designed for con-sumption by both clinicians and patients. “The informa-tion is tailored to the need of each of these groups.” www.canadianchiropractor.ca “It’s in response to the need of the profession for finding credible information, and our goal was to be able to centralize this and make this as easy as possible for clinicians to find,” Bussières explains. The CCGI was launched in 2004 by the Canadian Chiropractic Association and the Canadian Federation of Chiropractic Regulatory and Educational Accred-iting Boards. The initiative provides practitioners with an alterna-tive to the way they search for and consume the latest evidence in chiropractic care, according to Thistle, also a CCGI opinion leader from Ontario. “Part of the benefit of this initiative is that our col-leagues in the field will realize there are personal re-sources that they can tap into to get information about best practices and clinical practice guidelines,” Thistle says. “It doesn’t always have to be through a journal… There are more intimate ways to get to the research.” In addition to his regular practice, Thistle is also actively involved in the research scene. He is the CEO and founder of RRS Education (formerly, Research Review Service), which provides services that help practitioners integrate research evidence into their practice. His work with RRS Education makes him ideal for the opinion leader role. Thistle says chiropractors’ views on research vary widely and individual practitioners relate to research in different ways. “As a profession, we have a bit of a mixed bag in terms of how we interact with research or how we think it can influence our practice or our patient care.” Views of practitioners toward research evidence vary from “pure intimidation and ignorance all the way to over-interpretation or misinterpretation,” he says. The CCGI aims to standardize the way the evidence is presented to clinicians to facilitate knowledge trans-lation, Thistle says, adding that the overarching goal is to efficiently translate research into practice and help doctors apply it to patient care. Chiropractors may differ in how they interact with research, but one thing is for certain: a large majority of practitioners are in favour of following an evi-dence-informed practice, according to Bussières. Studies have shown that only less than 20 per cent of the profession “hold on to views that are more his-torical,” the CCGI project lead notes. “The remaining larger proportion are actually quite in favour of evi-dence-based approach and are motivated to also learn more about this.” One such chiropractor is Dr. Adam Wade, who owns Chiropractic on Main in Newmarket, Ont. Wade has been in practice for seven years and has always main-tained an evidence-informed practice. He finds clinical practice guidelines as a great way to keep his practice on top of the latest evidence in chiropractic care. Having information that has already been vetted by trusted entities, like the CCGI, is very important for his practice. September 2015 Canadian Chiropractor 19
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor September 2015: Page 19
