Evidence-based Practice Defined

According to Sackett, Richardson, Rosenberg & Haynes EBP is ‘the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of your client’ (1997, p. 2).  EBP integrates individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research; the evidence, by itself, cannot make a decision for you, but it can help support the patient care process. The initial definition of EBP was within the context of medicine, where it is was well recognised that ‘many treatments do not work as hoped’ (Doust and Del 2004, p. 474-5).  EBP is a total process beginning with knowing what clinical questions to ask, how to find the best practice, and how to critically appraise the evidence for validity and applicability to the particular care situation. The best evidence then must be applied by a clinician with expertise in considering the patient’s unique values and needs. The final aspect of the process is evaluation of the effectiveness of care and the continual improvement of the process (Sacket et al, 1997, p.3).