Using evidence-based management in a medical practice

Evidence-based management (EBMa) is the application of the evidence-based medicine process to making management decisions. EBMa has been described in a number of publications, which note the advantages of utilizing EBMa and offer generic guidance on the nature of EBMa evidence. This paper provides a specific EBMa pathway for physician practice and health system mangers to use to conduct EBMa database searches. It provides an example of conducting an EBMa search for a practice-based management problem. It describes how to do database searches using Advance Google Scholar, PubMed, and other data sources. It discusses challenges to conducting quality searches, including access to paid subscription databases, and offers suggestions to improve searches. Finally, the paper discusses the importance of establishing a culture of inquiry and using rapid cycle improvement methods to develop organizational EBMa support so health systems will devote adequate resources to information acquisition.