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

• Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS. Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't. BMJ. 1996;312(7023):71-72.

Abstract

A push for the use of evidence-based medicine and evidence-based practice patterns has permeated most health care disciplines. The use of evidence-based practice in sports physical therapy may improve health care quality, reduce medical errors, help balance known benefits and risks, challenge views based on beliefs rather than evidence, and help to integrate patient preferences into decision-making. In this era of health care utilization sports physical therapists are expected to integrate clinical experience with conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of research evidence in order to make clearly informed decisions in order to help maximize and optimize patient well-being. One of the more common reasons for not using evidence in clinical practice is the perceived lack of skills and knowledge when searching for or appraising research. This clinical commentary was developed to educate the readership on what constitutes evidence-based practice, and strategies used to seek evidence in the daily clinical practice of sports physical therapy.

Keywords: Evidence‐Based Medicine; Rehabilitation; Sports Physical Therapy.

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Abstract

A push for the use of evidence-based medicine and evidence-based practice patterns has permeated most health care disciplines. The use of evidence-based practice in sports physical therapy may improve health care quality, reduce medical errors, help balance known benefits and risks, challenge views based on beliefs rather than evidence, and help to integrate patient preferences into decision-making. In this era of health care utilization sports physical therapists are expected to integrate clinical experience with conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of research evidence in order to make clearly informed decisions in order to help maximize and optimize patient well-being. One of the more common reasons for not using evidence in clinical practice is the perceived lack of skills and knowledge when searching for or appraising research. This clinical commentary was developed to educate the readership on what constitutes evidence-based practice, and strategies used to seek evidence in the daily clinical practice of sports physical therapy.

Keywords: Evidence‐Based Medicine; Rehabilitation; Sports Physical Therapy.

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• Section 1: Introduction to Applying Research
• Section 2: Establishing Cause and Effect
• Section 3: Other Methods in Clinical Research
• Section 4: Synthesizing and Evaluating Research
• Appendices
• Glossary

Using the Libguide at Northern Arizona University use the template to write up an inquiry:

For example:

In adult patients with total hip replacements (Population), how effective is pain medication (Intervention) compared to aerobic stretching (Comparison) in controlling post operative pain (Outcome) during the perioperative and recovery time (Time)?

• The Well-Built, Patient-Oriented Clinical Question

  Use this worksheet to break down the parts of your PICO question.

Note:  RCT - refers to randomized clinical trials in the article referenced above.

CONTINUE ON TO EXAMPLES ON THE LIBGUIDE

Using the Clinical Information Access Portal, you can find examples on how to format your search strategies.  Note that there is not always a comparison/control given depending on the subject being researched.

Using PubMed in Evidence-Based Practice Training Course

•  Scenarios

•  Try-It Exercises

•  Additional Training

Includes:

• Course Home
• PubMed and Evidence-Based Practice
• Develop a Clinical Question
• Use PubMed to Find Relevant Articles
• Next Steps
• Scenario Practice

This tool uses predefined filters to help you quickly refine PubMed searches on clinical or disease-specific topics. To use this tool, enter your search terms in the search bar and select filters before searching.

SEE ALSO the RESEARCH GUIDE ON PubMed to access this database through the library in order to gain access to the many articles that the library provides.  Always log on to your institution before you conduct any search.

PubMed Overview

PubMed is a free resource supporting the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature with the aim of improving health–both globally and personally.

The PubMed database contains more than 37 million citations and abstracts of biomedical literature. It does not include full text journal articles; however, links to the full text are often present when available from other sources, such as the publisher's website or PubMed Central (PMC).

Available to the public online since 1996, PubMed was developed and is maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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PubMed facilitates searching across several NLM literature resources:

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MEDLINE is the largest component of PubMed and consists primarily of citations from journals selected for MEDLINE; articles indexed with MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) and curated with funding, genetic, chemical and other metadata.

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PMC is a full text archive that includes articles from journals reviewed and selected by NLM for archiving (current and historical), as well as individual articles collected for archiving in compliance with funder policies.

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Additional Resources

• Please see PubMed Coverage for more information about the types of content included in PubMed.
• For how-to information on searching the PubMed database, see the PubMed User Guide.

Last update: January 14, 2025