Evidence Based Practice

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Evidence-based practice is a fundamental aspect of healthcare, and maybe a standout amongst the most cited definitions is Sackett et al. (1996, p71), who depicted it as: “the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.” Sackett et al. highlighted several key areas, such as it being a conscience, deliberate action, that an individual takes part in; it is applied in an explicit way, exhibiting it has been applied; and judicious, demonstrating the task has had thought applied to it. Moule (2015), further …show more content…

Evidence-based practice enables a healthcare professional to justify any decision made, and using relevant, reliable evidence-based practice data, be able to re-enforce any decisions, and demonstrate why that particular decision was the outcome. It also allows healthcare professionals and practices to be evaluated to enable funding to be allocated wisely, this is known as “clinical governance” (Ellis, 2016, …show more content…

Along with these key steps, evidence-based practice varies in hierarchies, dependent upon its expertise and experience value, practical value, and other expert factors; this allows an analyse of how reliable the source and information is. Polit & Beck (2008), use seven levels to grade sources of information; ranging from 1 being the strongest and 7 being the weakest. Step 1 – Meta analyses and systematic reviews, using a multitude of research sources and performing statistical analysis; step 2 – Trials (controlled and randomised) with a definitive answer, used to compare one set of results with another to determine a definitive answer; step 3 – Trials (controlled and randomised) with a non-definitive answer, used to compare one set of results with another to determine a possible answer; step 4 – Cohort studies/follow up studies, aimed at larger groups of people, in relation to follow up questions around a specific area; step 5 – Case- controlled, analysing past data, looking at causes of disease, and/or cause and effect; step 6 – Cross-sectional studies, analysing data within a set period, looking at cause and effect; step 7 – Case reports, analysing individuals

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