College of Health Professions Evidence Based Practice Portal

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a way of approaching decision making about clinical issues. It is more than just the EBP research process outlined in the five A's below.  It is a means of making decisions

• with the best and most current knowledge possible from science and from practice (for example, quality improvement or core measures data)
• as that knowledge is interpreted by a clinician (with that person's expertise, experience, life knowledge and intuition completely integrated into the interpretation)
• and with the collaboration with the patient, where the doctor or nurse values what s/he wants as the outcome for this decision and why.

Patient preferences, as they are called, sometimes change when clinicians explain the science as interpreted through their expertise - we call these informed patient preferences. This enables the best outcome to be achieved for that patient.

EBP Research Portal Goals

• Train professional students to quickly access evidence during their clinical work.
• Introduce College of Health Professions students to concepts related to information literacy and lifelong learning, including the skills needed for finding information efficiently, selecting relevant information sources, evaluating information for authority and credibility, and using information for a specific purpose.
• Provide CHP students with online, self-paced instructional resources for improving research skills.

This Portal was created as a collaborative effort between the Wichita State University College of Health Professions and the University Libraries.