Evidence-based practice (EBP) is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research" (Sackett, 1996, p. 71). The basics of EBP are to assess the patient, ask the question, acquire the evidence, appraise the evidence, and apply this information. Health sciences fields are actively integrating EBP in their curricula and standards. Public service librarians will also have a key role in teaching EBP, especially in the Acquire and Appraise parts of the process. Many of the articles chosen for this column discuss barriers to EBP. For example, students and professionals in the field are intimidated by the search process and they may have difficulty finding appropriate or relevant material. They also cite lack of time, resources and misunderstanding as barriers to moving forward with EBP. While the challenges are plentiful and significant, there are several growing partnerships with faculty and academic librarians that are successfully teaching EBP through in-person instruction, online modules, consultations, collection development, and in the clinical setting. For this Best of the Literature column, I will share how these barriers can be broken down and how important a collaborative effort between librarians and health sciences faculty are in teaching EBP.
展开▼
