Evidence Based Practice was first defined by Dr David Sackett in the 1990s, but a commonly-used more recent definition is:

" ... the integration of individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research and our patient's unique values and circumstances.” (Straus, Glasziou, Richardson, & Haynes, 2019).

In addition, it "...requires the health professional to take into account characteristics of the practice context in which they work" (Hoffman, Bennett, & Mar, 2016, p.4).

• The best research evidence is usually from relevant research that has been carried out using sound methodology.
• Clinical expertise is a combination of the clinician’s experience, education and clinical skills.
• The patient has his/her own personal preferences, concerns, expectations, and values.
• The practice context includes characteristics of the situation in which the interaction between patient and health professional is taking place - for example, the resources available.

Evidence-Based Practice has expanded from the original Evidence-Based Medicine to apply to other health professions and many other disciplines such as librarianship and education. 

Even more recently, the term Evidence-Informed Practice (EIP) has been used in nursing, in an attempt to give more emphasis to a person-centred approach and to provide "flexibility regarding the nature of the evidence and its use". (Woodbury & Kuhnke, 2014).

Hoffmann, T., Bennett, S., & Mar, C. D. (2016). Evidence-based practice across the health professions (3rd ed.). Elsevier Australia.

Straus, S. E., Glasziou, P., Richardson, W. S., & Haynes, R. B. (2019). Evidence-based medicine: How to practice and teach EBM (5th ed.). Elsevier.

Woodbury, M. G., & Kuhnke, J. L. (2014). Evidence-based Practice vs. Evidence-informed Practice: What's the Difference? Wound Care Canada, 12(1), 26-29.

• Evidence-Based Practice - guide created by Charles Sturt Library

• An Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice - A tutorial compiled by the Duke University Medical Center Library and the Health Sciences Library at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• What is EBM? - From the website of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) (Toronto).

There are various models for listing the steps in the Evidence-Based Practice process. Here is a common 5-step approach: