This guide has been designed to assist College of Health & Biomedical Science students to understand and apply the key steps of the Evidence based practice process. 

• Ask 
• Acquire (Search)
• Appraise
• Apply/ Assess

The guide contains relevant resources and tools including links to books, journal articles, web resources and videos. 

First defined by David Sacket (1996), evidence based practice 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".

More recently Hoffman et al. (2016), defines Evidence based practice (EBP) as "the integration of the best research evidence with clinical expertise and the patient’s unique values and circumstances. Additionally, it also requires the health professional to take into account characteristics of the practice context in which they work" (p.3). 

Hoffmann, T., Bennett, S., & Mar, C. D. (2016). Evidence-based practice across the health professions (3rd ed.). Chatswood, Australia: Elsevier Australia.

Sackett D L., Rosenberg W M. C., Gray J. A. Muir, Haynes R. Brian, & Richardson W. Scott. (1996). Evidence Based Medicine: What It Is And What It Isn’t: It’s About Integrating Individual Clinical Expertise And The Best External Evidence. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 312(7023), 71–72.

"Learn what is evidence-based practice, why it makes a difference and why evidence-based practice is so important in healthcare today"

Source: Lippincott NursingCenter.com. (2016, March 1). What is Evidence-Based Practice? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yReXbAh7xI

Five key steps in Evidence based practice, these include:

1. Ask: a structured and focused clinical question

2. Acquire: Identify appropriate resources & search for the best research evidence to answer your question. 

3. Appraise: Appraise the evidence for its validity (closeness to the truth), impact and applicability (usefulness in clinical practice)

4. Apply: the evidence to the practice setting

5. Assess: evaluating effectiveness and efficiency in executing steps 1 to 4

Straus, S. E., Glasziou, P., Richardson, W. S., & Haynes, R. B. (2018). Evidence-based medicine: How to practice and teach it (5th ed.). Churchill Livingstone Elsevier.

Additional Evidence based practice resources available online: 

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Related VU Library guides 

Meg Weller

College Librarian (Health and Biomedicine)

meg.weller@vu.edu.au 

Iwona Janius
Librarian (Health and Biomedicine)

iwona.janius@vu.edu.au

Kirstin Scholz

Librarian (Health and Biomedicine)

kirstin.scholz@vu.edu.au

Reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and glossary's are great resources for definitions for key terms and concepts.