Evidence-based veterinary medicine and contextualised care

The welfare and the quality of life of the patient are central to the practice of veterinary medicine. With this in mind there is a growing number of treatment options available and factors related to the patient, the owner/carer, the type of consultation, the profession, the practice, the wider society, and sustainability both environmental and financial that should be considered when making a decision about the management of a patient. The similar terms contextualised care and spectrum of care have been used to describe these considerations. Decision making in the practice of contextualised care/spectrum of care, whichever options are under consideration, should be informed by the best current evidence from scientific research. The primary role of the Veterinary Evidence journal is to provide the scientific evidence from published research in a form that can be interpreted by veterinary professionals and which can used to inform their decision making.