“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 requires the integration of individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research and our patient's unique values and circumstances.”
-Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM), Toronto, CA
Evidence-based medicine, or evidence-based practice as it is also known, is "the process of systematically finding, appraising and using the best available research findings, integrated with clinical expertise, as the basis for clinical decisions about individual patients."
-Black's Medical Dictionary, 41st Edition (2006)
The steps in the EBM process should always begin and end with the patient
The EBM process is a patient-centered care model and it is typically initiated during clinical encounters with patients where questions about the effects of therapy, the utility of diagnostic tests, the prognosis of diseases or the etiology of diseases arise.
Glossaries of EBM terminology from reputable online resources:
