Evidence Based Health Care

"Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research." --Sackett, DL, et al. BMJ 1996;312(7023):71-2.

Evidence based medicine is an approach of practicing medicine with the goal to improve and evaluate patient care. It requires the judicious integration of best research evidence with the patient's values to make decisions about medical care. This method is to help physicians make proper diagnosis, devise best testing plan, choose best treatment and methods of disease prevention, as well as develop guidelines for large groups of patients with the same disease. (from JAMA 296 (9), 2006)

1. Ask the question
2. Acquire the evidence
3. Appraise the evidence
4. Incorporate patient values and preferences
5. Apply to patient