Evidence-Based Decision Making: A Translational Guide for Dental Professionals download pdf ebook

This concise, hands-on text provides a method for making evidence-based decisions in practice. The book presents a step-by-step approach to mastering the five essential skills of evidence-based decision making-formulating patient-centered questions, searching for the appropriate evidence, critically appraising the evidence, applying the evidence to practice, and evaluating the process. Five Case Scenarios are used throughout the book and cover the broad areas of therapy/prevention, diagnosis, etiology/harm/causation, and prognosis. Each chapter has objectives, suggested activities, a quiz, critical thinking questions, and exercises.
PREFACE

Evidence-based decision making (EBDM) is the formalized process of using a specific set of skills for identifying, searching for, and interpreting clinical and scientific evidence so that it can be used at the point of care. The evidence is considered in conjunction with the clinician’s experience and judgment, the patient’s preferences and values, and the clinical/patient circumstances. EvidenceBased Decision Making: A Translational Guide for Dental Professionals teaches the skills necessary for lifelong learning that are an important part of the ability to translate recent and relevant scientific evidence into practical applications. EBDM is an essential tool that is used to improve the quality of care and to reduce the gap between what we know, what is possible, and what we do. An evidencebased health care decision is one that includes the decision maker’s ability to find, assess, and incorporate high-quality valid information in the process. New electronic products, systems, and resources associated with clinical decision support also will require the end user to be competent in EBDM.

ORGANIZATION This book presents content centered on the essential and fundamental skills of EBDM. Evidence-Based Decision Making: A Translational Guide for Dental Professionals provides succinct information in nine chapters, beginning in Chapter 1 with an introduction to EBDM concepts and the five essential skills. Chapters 2 through 4 focus on Skill 1. Converting Information Needs/Problems into Clinical Questions So That They Can Be Answered. In these chapters, the reader will learn how to formulate background and foreground (PICO) questions, identify the type of question being asked, and select the appropriate type of studies related to the question, as well as how the levels of evidence relate to specific types of studies. Chapter 5 reviews Skill 2. Conducting a Computerized Search with Maximum Efficiency for Finding the Best External Evidence with Which to Answer the Question. Readers will learn how the PICO question relates to identifying key terms and developing an efficient search strategy to find relevant evidence. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on Skill 3. Critically Appraising the Evidence for Its Validity and Usefulness and teach the reader how to critically appraise relevant evidence, evaluate Internet Web sites, and summarize the results. Chapter 8 covers Skill 4. Applying the Results of the Appraisal, or Evidence, in

Clinical Practice. Readers will learn how to use critical thinking to apply the evidence. This incorporates the use of patient care outcome measures and the consideration of the patients’ circumstances, preferences, or values, along with the clinician’s experience and judgment and the scientific evidence to formulate the final decision with the patient. The book concludes with Chapter 9, which discusses Skill 5. Evaluating the Process and Your Performance. This brings the EBDM process full circle, allowing readers to conduct a self-evaluation of each aspect of the process and outlining how to strengthen their EBDM skills.

FEATURES An algorithm displaying the EBDM process and skills is included at the beginning of each chapter, allowing the reader to understand the progression involved in learning the EBDM process and the focus of that particular chapter of the book. To facilitate learning, each chapter of Evidence-Based Decision Making: A Translational Guide for Dental Professionals has specific Objectives and contains Suggested Activities: a Quiz, Critical Thinking Questions, and Exercises, all of which are meant to reinforce learning and encourage discussion. The Quizzes and Critical Thinking Questions are specifically developed to strengthen the reader’s understanding of concepts. The Exercises are designed to take the reader through the skill development process necessary to use EBDM. A consistent patient case is used throughout the book to model and teach the concepts in each chapter. Five Case Scenarios are used in the exercises and are meant to give the reader more opportunities to apply EBDM skills as they progress. When readers are finished with Evidence-Based Decision Making: A Translational Guide for Dental Professionals, it is expected that they will have completed the entire process for each type of clinical question that arises in practice: therapy/prevention, diagnosis, etiology/ harm/causation, and prognosis. By completing all steps for each case, an EBDM portfolio can be created that can be used as a guide for future reference. This book reflects many years of cumulative experience in designing educational materials, facilitating workshops, editing journals, and educating health professionals about how to integrate the evidence-based process into practice. The easy-to-read content and highly instructional exercises will be helpful as you vii.