Appraised evidence and decision making in clinical practice

Background
The use of evidence in decision making in clinical practice may vary significantly from practice to practice. Research suggests that clinicians may ignore research-based evidence in their practice or use research evidence indirectly. The aim of this systematic review is to explore using an online independent learning approach for clinicians making evidence-based decisions using research and evidence.

Methodology
This systematic literature review was conducted across MEDLINE, PUBMED, SCIENCE Direct, APA PSYCINFO and CINHAL databases. The use of a search strategy employed to conduct searches on the individual database. Using the MMAT criteria by Hong et al., 2018) studies were screened and reviewed.

Results
The findings from each study were thematically analysed and organised in the following thematic areas: (1) Searching for an answer to the clinical question or problem; (2) Expanding on the evidence to address the clinical question or problem; (3) Recording the available evidence to the clinical problem; (4) Validating the evidence, whether research-based or tacit knowledge; (5) Inspecting the evidence for its potential to improve current practice; (6) Cascading the evidence appropriately and possibly adopting the evidence in the decision; and (7) Evaluating the outcome of the clinical decision.

Conclusions
This systematic literature review found there is a lack of an online independent learning approach for clinicians making evidence-based decision using research and evidence which highlights a gap in the literature.

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