Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice Principles

• Evidence-based practice (EBP) involves systematic collection and examination of evidence to inform healthcare decisions.
• Evidence includes patient's unique values and circumstances, best research evidence, clinical expertise, and established experts' knowledge.
• EBP includes five steps: ask a focused clinical question, search for the best research evidence, appraise the quality of the evidence, integrate the evidence with patient information and clinical expertise, and reflect on the process for improvement.
• Clinical questions are categorized into background and foreground questions.
• Background questions ask about a condition or its aspects, have a condition or an aspect as the question root, and can cover a range of biologic, psychological, or sociological questions.
• Foreground questions ask for specific information about managing patients with a condition, have three essential components: patient and/or problem, exposure or intervention, and clinical outcomes.
• Clinical questions can be formatted using the PECO approach: Patient/Problem, Exposure/Intervention, and Outcome.
• EBP relates to various aspects of healthcare, including intervention, prevention, harm/risk, cause/etiology, differential diagnosis, diagnostic testing, prognosis, cost effectiveness, and quality of life.

Learn about the principles of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) and the first step of formulating a question. Explore how research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values are integrated to optimize clinical outcomes.