Evidence based healthcare

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Evidence based medicine is an approach to medical practice in which decisions are based on best current evidence related to the unique clinical condition of an individual patient and taking their values into account. The term evidence based healthcare describes an analogous approach in management in which decisions about health services are based on best current evidence , related to the unique set of needs of the population served and its values.

Different and sometimes conflicting sets of values operate. The clinician seeking to do everything for the patient without regard to cost may decide to give a treatment on the basis of the evidence whereas the manager or insurance company may decide, on the same evidence, that the opportunity cost is too high and decide that the treatment should not be made available to patients in the population they serve.

Some people call the population based approach evidence based guidelines. As the use of the term spread many different meanings have evolved [1]