Can scientists and policy makers work together?

This paper addresses a fundamental question in evidence based policy making--can scientists and policy makers work together? It first provides a scenario outlining the different mentalities and imperatives of scientists and policy makers, and then discusses various issues and solutions relating to whether and how scientists and policy makers can work together. Scientists and policy makers have different goals, attitudes toward information, languages, perception of time, and career paths. Important issues affecting their working together include lack of mutual trust and respect, different views on the production and use of evidence, different accountabilities, and whether there should be a link between science and policy.

A model for non-communicable disease surveillance in Canada: the prairie pilot diabetes surveillance system.

The Prairie Pilot Diabetes Surveillance Project was organized to design and test a prototype population-based surveillance system, using administrative data, for a chronic disease exemplar - diabetes mellitus. The Canadian model of a public health surveillance system for chronic conditions described here specifies a process by which administrative and claims data arising from provincial health insurance programs are merged into an annual person-level summary file (APLSF), yielding one summary record for each person insured within each province. The APLSF is the basis for a variety of estimates, including incidence, prevalence, mortality, complication rates and health services utilization.

Characteristics and risk factors for accident injury in Canada from 1986 to 1996: an analysis of the Canadian Accident Injury Reporting and Evaluation (CAIRE) database.

This study analyzed the database of Canadian Accident Injury Reporting and Evaluation (CAIRE) for the injuries reported from January 1986 to March 1996 in seven provinces at children's or general hospitals in Canada. In order to describe the characteristics of injuries, we compared the different categories of injuries by sex and by age groups, identified patterns of injuries, and detected the products causing injury to Canadian people. The results showed that there were 130,489 injury cases in Canada during the 10 years from 1986 to 1996.