Hypertext tools for implementing evidence-based practice in mental health

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The recent British Medical Journal series of articles entitled Getting Research into Practice included a paper which described the practice of evidence-based medicine as “a process of lifelong self-directed learning in which caring for patients creates a need for clinically important information about diagnoses, prognoses, treatment, and other healthcare issues” (Straus & Sackett, 1998). The Centre for Evidence-Based Mental Health located in Oxford, aims to promote and support the teaching and practice of evidence-based mental health (EBMH). Since April 1998 the Centre has been developing a website aimed at two broad groups of users; those who have an active role in teaching evidence-based practice in mental health, and those who wish to find high quality mental health evidence on the Internet. The site contains a wide range of tools to help professionals develop their skills in practising EBMH, as well as tools to enable groups to run training courses in evidence-based practice. In addition to this the site provides a regularly updated list of ‘quicklinks' to sources of evidence for the busy mental health care professional.