Evidence-based practice is the use of the best available evidence together with a clinician's expertise and a patient's values and preferences in making health care decisions.

AHRQ Evidence-Based Decisionmaking. Retrieved April 22, 2016 from http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/glossary-of-terms/?filterletter=e

Often a substantial gap occurs between the best research evidence and clinical practice with potentially serious health consequences for patients. Key reasons for the research-practice gap include lack of time and skills needed for finding and appraising the evidence. Evidence based practice helps bridge that gap by providing strategies that facilitate finding and appraising research, and resources that pre-filter and synthesize research to make the process more efficient.

Evidence based practice includes five steps:

1. Converting the need for information into an answerable question
2. Finding the best evidence with which to answer the question
3. Critically appraising the evidence for its validity, impact, and applicability
4. Integrating the evidence with clinical expertise and the patient's unique biology, values and circumstances
5. Evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the process

Strauss, S. E. (2011). Evidence-based medicine : How to practice and teach EBM (4th ed.). Edinburgh ; New York: Churchill Livingstone.