Do veterinarians practice evidence-based veterinary medicine? In the human medical profession, evidence-based medicine (EBM) has become established and clinicians have accessible EBM tools to support clinical decision-making.
What exactly does EBM mean to a practitioner? EBM is the conscientious and implicit effort to apply current best research evidence to medical decision-making. EBM should enhance clinical expertise in concert with consideration of patient needs and client circumstances.
For veterinarians, EBM is gaining momentum, but it is not widely employed in clinical practice. In addition to published research evidence, veterinarians still rely heavily upon textbooks, anecdotes, faculty expertise, and peer consultations. Depending on the clinical question, these may be the only resources to utilize, but they are often inadequate, outdated, and unproductive. Why has veterinary medicine been slower to adopt the practice of EBM? Is it because there is less rigorous, controlled research conducted and published in the peer-reviewed literature? These challenges create a gap between new knowledge and the practice of EBM in veterinary medicine.
How can the veterinary profession close the knowledge-to-practice gap? The gap represents a barrier to high quality care for individual patients. Where can veterinarians go to get evidence-based, synthesized information? Who teaches veterinarians how to incorporate it into clinical settings? The US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) is well-known for providing physicians with recommendations and guidelines based on research evidence. According to their website, the USPSTF is “An independent panel of experts in primary care and prevention that systematically reviews the evidence of effectiveness and develops recommendations for clinical preventive services.”
Could similar guidelines for preventive care and screening be developed for veterinarians? These guidelines would support the most efficacious screening for optimal pet care. The BARK (Banfield Applied Research and Knowledge) team is using Banfield’s large database to generate new knowledge, in addition to critically appraising existing knowledge from a variety of sources, to create preventive care and screening guidelines for the common diseases of middle-aged and senior pets.
Next month, BARK’s Research Medical Advisor Associate, Patrick Shearer, BVMS, PhD, will talk about periodontal disease. Please join us, post your comments, and engage in a discussion about what we know about the disease and how as veterinarians we can promote the highest quality evidence-based dental care for the pets that we see.
- Each month thereafter, the BARK team will blog about topics such as:
- EBM and evidence dissemination initiatives in the profession
- Strategies to best apply evidence in clinical settings
- Current and future research initiatives at Banfield
Let us know if you have ideas about questions or topics that are of interest to you, especially in relationship to evidence-based medicine and getting new knowledge to our patients!
Further Reading: Click on the links below for two articles on EBM that recently appeared in the Banfield Journal. The current edition of the Banfield Journal can always be viewed online at www.banfield.net/banfield-journal.