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Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine: EBVM: Introduction

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EBVM Tutorials

Why Practice EBVM?

  • New types of evidence are now being generated which create frequent, major changes in the way that we care for our patients.
  • Although we need this new evidence daily, we usually fail to get it.
  • As a result of the foregoing both our up-to-date knowledge and our clinical performance deteriorate with time.
  • Trying to overcome clinical entropy through traditional continuing medical education programs doesn't improve our clinical preformance.
  • EBM is a different approach to clinical learning has been showen to keep its practitioners up to date.

Sackett, David L., W. Scott Richardson, William Rosenberg, R. Brian Haynes. 1997. Evidence-based Medicine: How to Practice and Teach EBM. New York: Churchill Livingstone.

What is Evidence Based Veterinary Medicine (EBVM)?

Evidence-based medicine is often defined as "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the individual patients. This means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available clinical evidence from systematic research".

Sackett, David L., W. Scott Richardson, William Rosenberg, R. Brian Haynes. 1997. Evidence-based Medicine: How to Practice and Teach EBM. New York: Churchill Livingstone.

Image: Florida State University College of Medicine

Steps to Evidence Based Medicine

1. The Patient
 A problem or question will arise from a clinical encounter with a patient.
2. The Question
 Construct a focused, answerable clinical question.
3. The Search
 Select appropriate resources and conduct a search for evidence.
4. The Critical Appraisal
 Critically evaluate the evidence you find for validity and applicability to your patient's case.
5. The Patient
 When appropriate, based on your own clinical expertise and the owner's preferences, apply the study results to your patient's case.
6. The Self-Evaluation
 Evaluate your performance.

Source: The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Help

William E. Brock Memorial Library
102 McElroy Hall

Phone: 405-744-6655

Schedule an appointment: lib-vet@okstate.edu