- Paul Taenzer and Christa Harstall

Findings from research are seldom easily integrated into practice by practitioners in primary health care. The Institute of Health Economics (IHE) has established an Alberta Ambassador Program working together with researchers in epidemiology, health economics, and other social sciences to provide primary health care with the best available evidence from research.

Christa Harstall, IHE's Director of Health Technology Assessment and Dr. Paul Taenzer, a pain specialist at the Calgary Pain Centre are integral members of the Alberta Ambassador Program, which supports primary health care practitioners in finding and using the best research evidence available. The program is run by the Institute in collaboration with professional associations, researchers, and clinical leaders. It includes presentations and interactive workshops for practitioners, and the transfer of new knowledge to primary health care providers in the province.

Ambassadors for the Alberta program are chosen from the many experienced and respected clinicians in the province. The collaboration was initiated and funded by Alberta Health and Wellness, through the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) program.

The program started in 2004 when a group of people from across the province worked as one to help those with chronic back pain.

 "We thought, ‘Let's create Alberta guidelines that would be useful around the province," said Paul. "Chronic pain is a prevalent problem with a lot of disability. From our perspective, if the services in rural areas improve, that's a bonus to patients because they don't have to come to Calgary or Edmonton. Their primary care providers in, for example, Trochu or High Level, will have the knowledge to handle most problems locally."

Experts from the Calgary Chronic Pain Centre, the University of Alberta Pain Centre in Edmonton and the former Chinook Health Region identified primary care interventions used in the province for the management of chronic low-back pain and conducted workshops for primary care providers describing the research evidence supporting the use of those interventions.

Workshops were run in eight of the nine former provincial health regions and more than 130 nurses, physicians, physiotherapists, pharmacists and administrators attended. From those workshops, the decision was made to draft clinical guidelines for back pain.

The Alberta guidelines for back pain have attracted the interest of the Canadian Medical Association, which has recently asked to list them in its database for use across the country.

Christa says the longevity of the project has contributed to its success. "We've developed long-lasting relationships," she says. "Bridging the worlds of clinicians, government and researchers by building trust, confidence and respect for each other's expertise and an understanding of each other's worlds has been an incredible experience."

Harstall says developing the guidelines that span from prevention through to chronic low back pain proved a bonding experience. "What I found so amazing was how engaged people became," she says.

The provincial group is gearing up to get back to work this summer to develop headache guidelines.

(this story originally appeared in Alberta Health Services Newsletter and was written by Chris Simnett)