EBP is an indispensable approach to health care as it is essential that staff can provide a clear rationale for the care they give to patients and requires that decisions about health and social care are based on the best available, current, valid and relevant evidence (Aveyard, 2013). Although EBP seems very ‘raw’ it is important to note that there are three main components of decision making in EBP which are ‘the use of clinical evidence, clinical or professional judgment and patient preference’. (Aveyard, 2013) The use of all three combined should result in high quality care. If EBP didn’t exist in health and social care this would become an issue in terms of patient choice. As previously stated one of the main components is patient preference and if this wasn’t incorporated within health and social care the patients themselves would not have the decision of what care they would like to receive, within the context of available resources. ‘The patient preference must be acknowledged and their consent sought prior to the undertaking of any intervention’ (Aveyard, 2013) The patient has a legal right to make their own decisions and this can be reflected in the Department of Health (2012) consultation document ‘liberating the NHS – No Decision About Me Without Me’, which emphasized the importance of the role of the patient or client in decision making. (Aveyard, 2013) It is essential that all three of the mentioned components work together as ‘using evidence without professional judgment can lead to formulaic care and using professional judgement without available evidence can lead to outdated practice’. (Aveyard, 2013) The only exception of this is if the patient is unable to consent. In these cases decisions are made in the patients best interests by people who work with or care for the patient. Care for those who are unable to consent is determined in the Metal Capacity Act 2005. The Mental Capacity …show more content…
As explored earlier, EBP is not all hard evidence and professional judgment is needed to ensure effective practice. It is essential that those in the health and social care sector possess effective critical thinking skills to pass on this professional judgment. Skills you need (2017) state that critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas and the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking, which is paramount in EBP to ensure the highest quality of