EVIDENCED-BASED

PRACTICE
AMILYN B. LLENA, RN, LPT
TEACHER
• Ethical issues are part of every health care encounter. Moral
principles, such as truth, fairness, doing the right thing, avoiding
harm, and respecting autonomy, lie t the heart of these ethical
concerns.

• Each patient care encounter includes issues related to the

established practices of the discipline, what the patient prefers,
concern for quality of life, and contextual features.

• Driven by the increase accountability and the widespread and

convenient availability of information spawned by the Information
Age, the health care community is turning increased attention
towards evaluating established practices.
• This movement, which focuses on searching and appraising
available evidence on the advantages and disadvantages of various
intervention options, is described by occupational therapy and
other health care professionals as EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE.
EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE:
Origins and Processes
■ Is rooted in medicine but has quickly been embraced by the
entire health care community
■ Defined as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of
current best evidence in making decisions about the care of
individual patients”
– Being aware of the various levels of existing evidence
underlying a given intervention approach and carefully
appraising that evidence as it applies to a specific
patient encounter. (Holm, 2000)
EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE:
Origins and Processes
■ Primary reason for implementation is a moral one.
– Professional caregivers are responsible for practicing in
a manner that keeps the patient’s interest foremost by
achieving he greatest good and avoiding harm in the
process.
– The ultimate question:
– What, among the many things that could be done for
this patient, ought to be done?