In my health care management career, medical education has advanced from apprenticeships (“see one, do one, teach one”) to differential diagnosis (The process of weighing the probability of one disease versus that of other diseases possibly accounting for a patient’s illness) to…..Evidenced Based Medicine
* “The most common definition of Evidence-Based Practice (EBM) 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.”
“EBM is the integration of clinical expertise, patient values, and the best research evidence into the decision making process for patient care. Clinical expertise refers to the clinician’s cumulated experience, education and clinical skills. The patient brings to the encounter his or her own personal preferences and unique concerns, expectations, and values. The best research evidence is usually found in clinically relevant research that has been conducted using sound methodology.”
“The evidence, by itself, does not make the decision, but it can help support the patient care process. The full integration of these three components into clinical decisions enhances the opportunity for optimal clinical outcomes and quality of life. The practice of EBM is usually triggered by patient encounters which generate questions about the effects of therapy, the utility of diagnostic tests, the prognosis of diseases, and/or the etiology of disorders.”
In Evidenced Based Medicine the patient is an active participant!
*For a great tutorial on Evidenced Based Medicine, developed by staff at Duke University Medical Center Library and the Health Sciences Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Welcome to the Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice Tutorial, highlight and click on hyperlink http://guides.mclibrary.duke.edu/ebmtutorial