Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
These modules are a guide to the UWA approach to answering clinical questions, an evidence based practice approach.
Modules
Reasons for using Evidence Based Practice (EBP)
- Health care knowledge grows so rapidly that you will be out of date by the time you ‘memorise the textbook’.
- Health care knowledge is now too vast to keep up to date with all the key publications, even in your field.
- Today’s information environment allows you to get information ‘just in time’ rather than ‘just in case’.
- EBP allows you to individualise the information for your patient’s situation.
- EBP teaches you to integrate the best available information with clinical expertise, patient values, and your health care environment.
- EBP helps you to challenge dogma and avoids uncritical acceptance of ‘usual practice’.
- EBP can be simple, quick, and will give you skills for lifelong learning and up to date practice.
Barriers to using Evidence Based Practice (EBP) to answer clinical questions
| Barriers | Solutions |
|---|---|
| Uncritical acceptance of 'usual practice' | Learn to question dogma |
| Failure to recognise and ask clinical questions | Practice recognising and asking clinical questions |
| Perceived lack of time | Understanding the resources available to find answers quickly and effectively |
| Lack of EBP skills | Learn these EBP skills here |
| Lack of access to information resources | The internet removes this barrier - some good quality resources are freely available |
| Applying the right answer to the wrong patient | Remember that the final step in EBP is to consider the individual patient, their values, and your practice setting |
| Lack of knowledge and support from colleagues for an EBP approach | Explain, teach, and model EBP approach in your practice |
Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS (1996) Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't. British Medical Journal 312, 7023: 71-2.