Evidence Based Practice, also known as EBP according to is a “process that requires the practitioner to

find best empirical evidence about the effectiveness or efficacy of different treatment options and then
determine the relevance of the evidence to a particular client’s situation”. EBP values, enhances, and
builds on the clinical proficiency, knowledge of the disease mechanisms, and pathophysiology. It
involves complex and conscientious decision making built not only on the available evidence but also on
patient physiognomies, circumstances, and preferences. It also recognizes health care as an
individualized and ever changing that involves uncertainties and probabilities. Ultimately EBP is the
formalization of the care process that the best clinicians have practiced for generations. Effective
evidence based practice takes time, extensive research, proper understanding and is dependent on its five
steps. The first of these is formulating a searchable clinical question or questions which than needs to be
answered to satisfy the health carer or other specific needs of the patient. The second step involves the
retrieval of best evidence such as textbooks, verified journal literature/article etc. to answer the
questions. Appraising the retrieved information to help make a clinical decision forms the third step. The
fourth steps involves applyingthe evidence with clinical expertise, taking the patient’s wants/needs into
consideration and the fifth step involves the evaluatingtheeffectiveness and efficiency of the process.
Evidence based practice is vital, demanding and highly respected amongst health care disciplines
because of its ambitions to provide the most effective care that is accessible, with the aim of improving
patients outcomes. It promotes an attitude of inquiry in health professionals and gets them into thinking
about questions such as: Why am I doing this in this way? Is there evidence that can guide me to do this
in a more effective way? Therefore, facilitating their practice into professional accountability. Evidence
based practice also plays an important role in ensuring that health resources are used wisely and that
relevant evidence is considered when decisions such as funding health services are made.

Most health professionals use both individual clinical expertise and the best available external evidence
as a guidance to their decision making. Without clinical expertise, practice risks becoming tyrannised by
evidence, for even excellent external evidence may be inapplicable to or inappropriate for an individual
patient. Without current best evidence, practice risks becoming rapidly out of date, to the detriment of
patients. Clinical Expertise is important as it depends on the knowledge and skills of health care
professionals providing care. The clinical expertise of a health professional depends on his/her year of
clinical experience, current knowledge of research/clinical literature and educational preparation. The
stronger the health professional’s clinical expertise the better his or her judgement in using the best
research evidence in practice. Extensive research is needed to develop sound empirical knowledge for

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synthesis into the best research evidence needed for practice. This research evidence might be
synthesized to develop guidelines, standards, protocols and policies to direct the implementation of a
variety of health practice interventions.