Evidence-based practice combines the best research evidence (found in health sciences literature) with a practitioner's clinical knowledge and the patient's values and expectations to make informed clinical decisions.
Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice by
Praise for the previous edition "An extraordinary and important book. Its approach to evidence-based practice (EBP) is very sound, realistic, and generous to the complexities of everyday practice. Reading and using this book is a must." --Haluk Soydan, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Southern California "This book has the potential to change practice in the helping professions. Rather than focusing on how to conduct research, Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice instead shows readers how to understand the literature.... [The] generous use of humor and the inclusion of simple, practice-relevant examples make this book a pleasure to read." --Aron Shlonsky, PhD, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto "I particularly like the integration of research methods and EBP; this is the book's major innovation in my mind as it allows readers to see the connections between research and practice. [The book] also succeeds by taking very complex EBP principles and explaining them in practical terms." --Jeffrey M. Jenson, PhD, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver Hands-on guidance for research-informed practice and practice-informed research Now in a second edition, Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice offers a clinician-oriented approach to appraising and using research as part of the EBP process. This accessible guide presents essential and practical guidance on how to integrate research appraisal into EBP endeavors to determine which interventions, policies, and assessment tools are supported by the best evidence. It introduces: Increased attention to macro-level EBP questions and studies New discussion on defining EBP, including the addition of a transdisciplinary model of EBP More detailed guidance on EBP question formulation and conducting Internet searches, including the PICO framework New content on multivariate designs, including propensity score matching, and on mixed-model and mixed-methods studies
Forming a clinical question in terms of the specific patient problem will aid you in finding clinically relevant evidence in the literature. The PICO method is a format to help you define your question. Once you have formatted your question, you will translate it into a search strategy to be used in an appropriate database.
| P | Patient or Population or Problem | How would you describe a group of patients similar to yours? |
| I | Intervention | Which main intervention, prognosis, or exposure are you considering? |
| C | Comparison intervention, if appropriate | What is the alternative you are considering (if any)? |
| O | Outcome | What do you hope to achieve? |
Select the highest level of evidence possible when searching for sources related to your PICO question. The levels of evidence pyramid seen below demonstrates both the quality of evidence and the amount of evidence available. The quality of the evidence increases as you move up the pyramid, but the amount of evidence available decreases. You may not be able to find a study from the highest levels of the pyramid related to your topic.
