Evidence Based Practice & Healthcare Guidelines: Home

Evidence based practice (EBP) is the conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about patient care (Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, & Haynes, 2000).

It is a problem solving approach to clinical practice and administrative issues that integrates:

• A systematic search for and critical appraisal of the most relevant evidence to answer a burning clinical question
• One's own clinical expertise
• Patient preferences and values (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2014)

The EBP process is a method that allows the practitioner to assess research, clinical guidelines, and other information resources based on high quality findings and apply the results to practice (Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, 2018).