Evidence Based Practice

Evidence-Based Practice in Healthcare

The most common definition of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is from Dr. David Sackett. EBP is “the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.” (Sackett D, 1996)

Research -  how do you define it?

Evidence based practice defines 'research' as the creation of new knowledge through studies or trials.  

Looking up studies and trials is defined as a 'literature review'.  It is what we do when we want to find out what is already known.

When practicing evidence based nursing, you usually have to perform a literature review.