The basic idea of evidence-based practice
is that good-quality decisions should be
based on a combination of critical thinking
and the best available evidence. Although
all management practitioners use evidence
in their decisions, many pay little attention
to the quality of that evidence. The result is
bad decisions based on unfounded beliefs,
fads and ideas popularised by
management gurus. The bottom line is bad
decisions, poor outcomes, and limited
understanding of why things go wrong.
Evidence-based practice seeks to improve
the way decisions are made. It is an
approach to decision-making and day-today
work practice that helps practitioners to
critically evaluate the extent to which they
can trust the evidence they have at hand. It
also helps practitioners to identify, find and
evaluate additional evidence relevant to
their decisions.
In this paper we use the following definition
of evidence-based practice 3
, which also
describes the main skills required to
practice in an evidence-based way: