Evidence Based Practice Essay

This assignment will be investigating patient choice in relation to personalisation, the rational for this chosen topic is because Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is largely weighed in patient preferences, which will be explored throughout this essay. Sackett et al. (1996) describes EBP as ‘the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.’ The main driver behind EBP in health and social care is ‘the delivery of the best possible care, for professional accountability and to avoid negligence claims.’ (Aveyard, 2013) In the past health and social care practices were largely based on trial and error, this led to an unhealthy population and caused considerable harm. Due to the development of EBP it has led to the reduction of interventions which can be considered damaging. This can be reflected for example in a change of legislation, where a solid evidence base is needed for effective practices.
EBP is an indispensable approach to health care as it is essential that staff can provide a clear rationale for the care they give to patients and requires that decisions about health and social care are based on the best available, current, valid and relevant …show more content…
As explored earlier, EBP is not all hard evidence and professional judgment is needed to ensure effective practice. It is essential that those in the health and social care sector possess effective critical thinking skills to pass on this professional judgment. Skills you need (2017) state that critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas and the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking, which is paramount in EBP to ensure the highest quality of