Evidence-based practice: the role of the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination.

The increasing need to adopt evidence-based practice places large information demands on health professionals. This paper draws on the experience of the information team of the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination to examine opportunities for information workers to assist researchers and health professionals in the move to more evidence-based care. The importance of research reviews for the development of evidence-based practice and the process of conducting overviews are discussed. The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination is disseminating the results of reviews and developing information services for information professionals, health practitioners and health service managers. The services include databases of structured abstracts of quality reviews and economic evaluations and an enquiry service.