Introduction
These modules are a guide to the UWA approach to answering clinical questions, an evidence based practice approach.
This book, Answering Clinical Questions (ACQ), is being published in scheduled releases. Modules 1 and 2 are complete, published here February 2025. Modules 3 and 4 are forthcoming.
Module 1 Formulate a clinical Question
Module 2 Find the best evidence
Module 3 Appraise the evidence (forthcoming)
Module 4 Apply the evidence (forthcoming)
Reasons for using Evidence Based Practice (EBP)
- Health care knowledge grows so rapidly that you will be out of date by the time you ‘memorise the textbook’.
- Health care knowledge is now too vast to keep up to date with all the key publications, even in your field.
- Today’s information environment allows you to get information ‘just in time’ rather than ‘just in case’.
- EBP allows you to individualise the information for your patient’s situation.
- EBP teaches you to integrate the best available information with clinical expertise, patient values, and your health care environment.
- EBP helps you to challenge dogma and avoids uncritical acceptance of ‘usual practice’.
- EBP can be simple, quick, and will give you skills for lifelong learning and up to date practice.
Tips for using Evidence Based Practice (EBP)
- Uncritical acceptance of ‘usual practice’ can be overcome by learning to question dogma.
- Practice recognising and asking clinical questions.
- This book, Answering Clinical Questions (ACQ), will teach you EBP skills and assist you to understand the resources available, to be able to find answers quickly and effectively.
- To avoid applying the right answer to the wrong patient, remember that the final step in EBP is to consider the individual patient, their values, and your practice setting.
- Finally – explain, teach and model EBP approach in your practice to help colleagues learn and support an EBP approach.
Reference:
Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS (1996) Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn’t. British Medical Journal 312, 7023: 71-2