4-Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to clinical decision-making within a health care organization. It integrates the best available scientific evidence with the best available experiential (patient and practitioner) evidence. EBP considers internal and external influences on practice and encourages critical thinking in the judicious application of such evidence to the care of individual patients, a patient population, or a system. The level of evidence are as follows:
Level I
Experimental study, randomized controlled trial (RCT)
Systematic review of RCTs, with or without meta-analysis
Level II
Quasi-experimental Study
Systematic review of a combination of RCTs and quasi-experimental, or quasi-experimental studies only, with or without meta-analysis.
Level III
Non-experimental study
Systematic review of a combination of RCTs, quasi-experimental and non-experimental, or non-experimental studies only, with or without meta-analysis.
Qualitative study or systematic review, with or without meta-analysis
Level IV
Opinion of respected authorities and/or nationally recognized expert committees/consensus panels based on scientific evidence.
Includes:
– Clinical practice guidelines
– Consensus panels
Level V
Based on experiential and non-research evidence.
Includes:
– Literature reviews
– Quality improvement, program or financial evaluation
– Case reports
– Opinion of nationally recognized expert(s) based on experiential evidence.
According to U.S Department of Health and Human services, Evidence Classification Scheme for a Diagnostic Measure include:
Class I: A prospective study in a broad spectrum of persons with the suspected condition, using a ‘gold standard’ for case definition, where the test is applied in a blinded evaluation, and enabling the assessment of appropriate tests of diagnostic accuracy
Class II
: A prospective study of a narrow spectrum of persons with the suspected condition, or a well-designed retrospective study of a broad spectrum of persons with an established condition (by ‘gold standard’) compared to a broad spectrum of controls, where test is applied in a blinded evaluation, and enabling the assessment of appropriate tests of diagnostic accuracy
Class III: Evidence provided by a retrospective study where either person with the established condition or controls are of a narrow spectrum, and where test is applied in a blinded evaluation
Class IV: Any design where test is not applied in blinded evaluation OR evidence provided by expert opinion alone or in descriptive case series (without controls).
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.). Agency for healthcare research and quality: a profile. Retrieved December 3, 2018, from londonessays.com
Winona State University. (2018). Evidence based practice toolkit. Retrieved December 3, 2018, from londonessays.com
5-Evidence based medicine uses evidence to make clinical decisions. There is a hierarchal system for classification of evidence. This hierarchy is known as the levels of evidence. Physicians are encouraged to find the highest level of evidence to answer clinical questions (Barnes, Rohrich, & Chung, 2012, p. 305). The higher the level the more strength the evidence has. Randomized controlled trials (RCT’s) are the strongest research designs for treatment or intervention studies because they exert the most control over the methods and the results are considered more trustworthy (Thomas, 2017). It is important to note that a high level of evidence for a treatment study may not be the highest level of evidence for a study for prognosis. The strongest levels of evidence are at the top of the hierarchy. Some examples put concepts into practice from the different levels of evidence that may include practice alerts for revising current policies and instituting new practices.