What is Evidence-Based Practice?

Abstract

Evidence-based practice are the buzz words of current health care. This article explores what evidence-based practice actually means for occupational therapists. Evidence-based practice has two strands. The first strand involves using the best available evidence as part of the clinical decislonmaking process. The second strand involves drawing the evidence together in the form of systematic reviews. These reviews may then be used to help inform the development of clinical guidelines.This article outlines and discusses both strands of evidence-based practice and the relevance of each strand to practising occupational therapists. It explores how therapists can locate, evaluate and use evidence to Inform their practice. The article focuses particularly on the development of critical appraisal skills. The role of systematic reviews and the relevance of clinical guidelines for occupational therapy are discussed.

Vocational intervention based on the Model of Human Occupation: a review of evidence

“…These barriers to achieving best practice have been recognized and are beginning to be addressed to an extent (32)(33)(34). Since clinicians do not have the time to locate or appraise original studies (35 and prefer to use brief summaries (29,32), web-based strategies such as OT Seeker (http://www.otseeker.com) provide abstracts of systematic reviews and critically appraised randomized controlled trials (32).…”

Research utilization models: frameworks for implementing evidence‐based occupational therapy practice

“…Evidence-based practice developed from the principles of evidence-based medicine, a concept that originated in the 1980s at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as a label for its problem-based clinical learning strategy (Taylor, 1997). Rosenberg and Donald (1995) defined evidence-based medicine as: 'the process of systematically finding, appraising, and using contemporaneous research findings as the basis for clinical decisions' (p. 1122).…”

“…Clearly, in order for evidence-based medicine to work, it must be a blend of clinical expertise, the best available external clinical evidence and the involvement of the patient (Lloyd- Smith, 1997). Although evidencebased medicine is still commonly used, the evidence-based process has evolved and, now, evidence-based practice is seen as a more appropriate term (Taylor, 1997).…”

“…Research findings are of little use to the profession if they stay on the printed page (Brown, 1997;Taylor, 1997). The gap between research and practice must therefore be closed if we are to develop and refine our body of knowledge (Lloyd-Smith, 1997).…”

“…Simply because information is timely, relevant, objective and given to the right people in useable form, its use has not been guaranteed ... utilization cannot therefore be taken for granted -the process itself has to be understood before knowledge can be translated into action. (p. 4) Caplan (1980) was speaking specifically about the utilization of policyrelevant social science knowledge, but his remarks are equally relevant to the research utilization issues confronting the occupational therapy profession (Taylor, 1997).…”