Evidence-based practice refers to programs and practices that have been proven to be successful in practice through research, and that have produced consistently reliable results (Waters). These are programs which have been shown to be most effective in treating a particular problem, such as drug dependence, and that can be used with different groups of people in different settings at different times with the same results. The use of evidenced-based programs based on proven, well-researched techniques is becoming standard practice today, and is required by many funding agencies.
A report entitled A Guide to Treatments That Work was published by the American Psychological Association, and What Works for Whom, a review of psychotherapy techniques was published by the National Health Service in the United Kingdom (Waters). These are examples of evidence-based research. Evidence-based research is based on rigorous evaluation and systematic, standardized description of target populations, of the practices used in the programs, the theoretical relationship between the clients the program serves, the practices used, and the desired outcomes for the program. There must be clear evidence that the interventions proposed have outcomes which are meaningful to the participants and that can be measured objectively by independent investigators following the same research protocol.
Evidence is built up in a scientific manner by observation, description and measurement, determining the mechanism that leads to success and with which populations this occurs, and citing the specific results that can be anticipated and can be verified by other independent researchers using the same methods at a different time and place and with a different patient population (Waters). Because of the sheer amount of new information coming in daily from research, it is impossible for a physician to keep up-to-date with everything that is going on in his/h...