Towards national evidence-informed practice guidelines for Canadian EMS: Future directions

Abstract

In emergency medical services (EMS), like other areas of healthcare, a substantial knowledge-to-action gap exists between the results of research and widespread use in clinical practice. This paper reports on a national workshop held to develop a process for creating National EMS Evidence-Informed Clinical Guidelines in an attempt to improve knowledge translation. We discuss the lessons learned from the workshop and next steps in developing the guidelines. This process and its lessons are generalizable to other areas of healthcare seeking to develop evidence-based guidelines. National EMS Evidence-Informed Guidelines will likely be a meaningful knowledge translation activity for Canadian EMS.