Having an evidence-based approach

Evidence-based practice is the "conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research" ^[1].

Evidence-based practice allows health providers to optimise a patient's functional and return to work outcomes by:

• offering treatment that has the best chance of success
• avoiding treatment that has the least chance of success.

As with all evidence-based practitioners, health providers need to integrate the best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values.

Where is the best evidence available?

The most accessible source of research evidence is 'pre-appraised' evidence such as systematic reviews, clinical practice guidelines and critically appraised papers and topics. Examples of 'pre-appraised' evidence include:

• the Cochrane Collaboration: a free website that includes systematic reviews of research evidence
• the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro): a database of clinical trials and systematic reviews related to physiotherapy
• the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC): a source that presents evidence-based management of acute musculoskeletal pain.

The guidelines by injury type section provides information about current evidence and includes links to examples of evidence-based clinical guidelines.