Evidence-based practice for individuals or groups: let's make a difference

The aim of applying science into practice is to deliver high-quality health care. Thinking about teaching the necessary accompanying skills, a distinction can be made between using evidence for individual patient care and using scientific knowledge for the development of protocols or guidelines for groups of patients or professionals. In this paper, these two ways of applying science into practice are being considered. We plea for explicating the differences between the individual patient and a group of patients or professionals when applying scientific knowledge in the decision-making process. The acknowledgment of these differences facilitates the teaching of the accompanying competences and different CanMEDS roles.