Module 1: Professional Accountability and Prescribing

Lesson 5

Evidence-based practice to evidence-informed practice

This evolution occurred to incorporate a more pragmatic application of research results to clinical settings and client situations. Evidence-informed practice indicates that credible evidence should be carefully reviewed for particular clinical applications, but not all conclusions or results may be fully accepted without question or patient perspectives in mind. Evidence-informed practice also recognizes that a careful critical appraisal process of published research should occur by the user to determine quality, value, and practical usage. Not all published research is directly usable or of exceptional quality. Finally, evidence-informed practice reminds us that although best-quality gold-standard evidence has been traditionally viewed as randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews, these types of research are not necessarily the most useful to answer every possible clinical question. Other research methodologies, such as qualitative analyses or statistical analyses of large data sets, may be needed.

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