Ottawa – The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) today announced the launch of Rx for Change – a publicly accessible interventions database for health care policy makers and health care professionals, providing easy access to current research evidence about the effectiveness of strategies and programs to improve drug prescribing and use.
Barb Shea, Vice President of CADTH’s Canadian Optimal Medication Prescribing and Utilization Service (COMPUS) program, highlighted the relevance of this new health care database for those seeking to implement effective strategies to promote the optimal prescribing and use of drugs.
“Rx for Change is a first-in-class resource that offers health care providers and decision makers a centralized resource to find reliable, up-to-date, evidence-based information on what works to change drug prescribing and use behaviour. This is a phenomenal amount of information that is now amassed and available through a user-friendly, online source. CADTH is very proud of this achievement.”
Shea said that Rx for Change is the result of collaboration among COMPUS, the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care (EPOC) led by Dr. Jeremy Grimshaw and the Cochrane Consumers and Communication Review Groups led by Dr. Sophie Hill.
Dr. Jeremy Grimshaw shared his comments on the value of this resource:
“Clinical research consistently produces new findings that may contribute to effective and efficient patient care, but many approaches to changing clinical practice are often based on beliefs rather than on scientific evidence. Rx for Change provides decision makers with a reliable resource to select behaviour change strategies that promote the optimal use of medicines.”
Rx for Change is accessible on the CADTH web site or directly at http://www.rxforchange.ca/. A CADTH browse page provides the user with access to summaries of systematic reviews on interventions listed in the following categories: professional, consumer, organizational, financial, regulatory and structural. The evidence is summarized in each category and is linked back to the individual studies contained within each review.
CADTH will be hosting a web cast on December 10, 2007 to introduce this new optimal therapy resource. Register through http://www.rxforchange.ca/ soon.
For more information, visit http://www.rxforchange.ca/ or contact:
Janet Crain, Senior Communications Advisor
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health
Tel: (613) 226-2553 E-mail: janetc@cadth.ca
The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) is a national body that provides Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial health care decision makers with credible, impartial advice and evidence-based information about the effectiveness and efficiency of drugs and other health technologies.