Evidence-Based Practice: Home

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Evidence-Based Health Care (EBHC) is "the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. Evidence-based clinical practice requires integration of individual clinical expertise and patient preferences with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research and consideration of available resources."

Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is "clinical practice in which patient management decisions are consistent with the principles of evidence-based heath care. This means that decisions will be, first of all, consistent with the best evidence about the benefits and downsides of the alternative management strategies. Second, decisions will be consistent with the values and preferences of the individual patient."

Guyatt, G, Rennie, D, Meade, MO, Cook, DJ. Users' Guide to the Medical Literature: Essentials of Evidence-based Clinical Practice. 3rd ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education, 2015.

How to Use the Medical Literature to Provide Optimal Patient Care

1. Ask: Formulate a structured clinical question using PICO

2. Acquire: Search for and select the best available evidence using the most appropriate resource for the question

3. Appraise: Evaluate the evidence for bias and results

4. Apply: Analyze the results and apply to patient care by considering the risks and outcomes of the evidence

5. Act: Use the evidence by integrating it with clinical expertise and shared decision making with the patient

Guyatt G, Rennie D, Meade MO, Cook DJ. What Is Evidence-Based Medicine? Users' Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice, 3rd ed; 2015. Available at: https://jamaevidence.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=847&sectionid=69031458 Accessed: March 03, 2019 Copyright © 2019 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.