Evidenced-Based Practice and Empirically Supported Treatment - Coursework Example

Evidenced Based Practice & Empirically Supported Treatment Evidenced Based Practice & Empirically Supported Treatment Evidence base practice (EBP) was formally introduced to the medicine field 1992 but has spread to other disciplines like dentistry and nursing (Marvin & Catherine, 2004). It is not only used in the medical sector but also in other fields such as agriculture and business. It involves providing medical care based on evidence in conjunction with expertise and resources. The evidence provided should come from wide research dealing with the issue in question. The actions taken by a medical practitioner is expected to be supported by a prior research. The evidence should be derived from systematically collected data (Hunsley, 2007). Empirically supported treatment is administration of medical care based on experiments and observations. Clinicians are part of the medical fraternity and involved in providing medical care based on EBP. Evidence based practice has become an important facet in providing health care to patients in clinics. The management in the medical sector has constantly advised clinicians to make decisions on health care basing facts the most valid evidence at the time of treatment. The medical sector is transforming from the traditional ways of doing things to modern and more reliable ways of handling situation. Situations have become more complex leading to abandoning of the old methods, which cannot rise up to current situations. (Hunsley, 2007)The importance of evidence based practice and empirically supported systems can therefore not be underestimated since it is the driving force to this transformation. Evidence based practices focus on informing the patients on the researched evidence and the available options for prevention or treatment. Clinicians therefore need a proper understanding of the recent researches for them to be updated on the methods of treatment. EBP help clinicians to provide medical care to the patients in such a way that they are healed or respond to treatment faster. The clinicians ensure that their services are of high quality due to the wide research and knowledge they have. This knowledge may originate from their experience or researches done previously. It is more advantageous to use evidence-based practice while making decisions as opposed to the traditional methods of decision-making. Earlier on, the traditional methods seemed to work but with diversification of people, changes in climates and emergence of new diseases, the method has been outdated. For proper medical care of the current situations in the medical sector, a lot of research must be done(Hunsley, 2007). Cases of diseases of similar characteristics are common and differentiate them requires in-depth research. Research and technology therefore helps clinicians make informed decisions based on evidence. Empirically supported treatment is important to clinicians since it leads to better patient outcomes. The efficiency of clinicians and the level of their professionalism is promoted by evidence based research and the more it is utilized the better the health improvements in the patients. EBP is vital to clinicians since on individual basis, it positions them in a level where they can provide optimal care to the patients with high-level competence. The collection, interpretation and integration of reports give maximum results that are beneficial in offering treatment and as a result, there is hope of recovery in the patient and their families. Therapies being the most common form of treatment to current diseases are highly informed by researches. Hunsley argues that clinicians fill the gap between the research and the actual therapy and their understanding of the research is necessary for the success of the therapy(Hunsley, 2007). Different implications have been impacted on the clinical sector following therapy researches .The performance of the therapy by clinicians helps improve the research and the result in better quality therapies. The clinicians reveal the areas to be changed and in most cases clarify the course of change. Clinicians’ involvement in implementation of EBP has contributed positively to testing of medical models being introduced or medical models that have been in place. Their involvement with many patients prove the validity of medical models and their opinion on development in the model are very essential EBP leads to patients having access to information of effective treatment. Some conditions in human beings are lifelong and the patient has to live with them. The knowledge of the clinicians is passed to the patient during the treatment and will be important to them in dealing with their lifelong illnesses. This way, EBP has led to improved of health standards worldwide. A research done by the world health organization, found out that since the introduction of EBP health standards have improved by13.7percent. Medical care based on evidence is not only required in treatment but also in medication to the patients. Clinicians with a proper understanding of the evidence based practice and empirical supported treated have shown improvements in the accuracy of their medication. Before any medication, the clinician is required to do a research and explore all the medication available before deciding on the specific one to administer to the patient. Clinicians seeking to put in place evidence based practice have been faced by major challenges, which is common in introduction of any new technology or trend. The most common challenge is the lack of sufficient and consistent scientific evidence since different scientists and researchers using different approaches and methods do researchers( Marvin & Catherine ,2004). The results produced are at times very different and the choice of which evidence to apply is a difficult task to clinicians. There is a difficulty in applying the evidence accurately to cater for individual patients. There is no clearly defined methods of operationalising differentiate and implementing evidences from research and hence use EBP becomes a challenge to clinicians. However, this problem is being solved by several articles and journals that are seeking to explain the operation of EBP Execution of the EBP by clinicians is also affected by the diversities of patients. Patients may suffer from the same diseases or conditions but their bodies may react differently to treatment. Dependency of evidence has caused a problem in such situations thus calling for more research if better success if required. Medication also reacts differently in different patients and it becomes a challenge to determine whether the EBP is effective. Another concern on the utility of evidence-based treatment is the argument that the research base is considerably small as compared to the wide range conditions and complaints in the clinical sector. For example, although there is extensive research on cancer, there are very few well-designed treatments and diagnosis procedures. Despite this being a problem in EBP, clinicians have continued to implement empirical based treatment with full consideration of the treatment researches. ( Marvin & Catherine ,2004) To solve the challenges facing implementation of evidence-based treatment, attempts have been made to address treatment plans for specific clinical problems occurring in clinical diagnosis. Innovative approaches have been developed to identify specific treatement components for children and adolescents. With this information, clinicians are in a position to identify specific needs of a particular patient and select the components matching the patient’s needs. Recent meta-analytic evidence showed that despite patient diversities recovery increased with implementation of monitoring gauges on the patient’s progress. Despite the problems faced by clinicians in implementation of the evidence based practice, in the past decade a lot of success has been recorded on treatment efficacy and effectiveness. Treatment efficacy entails methods of maximizing internal validness of a study while effectiveness maximizes external validity with internal validity being maintained. Clinicians have been used in enhancing external validity since they routinely provide services to patients. This has been useful in testing of the research results and hence improvements EBP( Marvin & Catherine ,2004). Clinician’s reports have been used in guiding further researches since the results produced after implementation show the effectiveness earlier research and provide a guideline on the new areas to be researched on. This system has led to other developments such as in management care organizations. Insurers only reimburse such organizations if the treatment was empirically supported. This shows that the insurance companies have belief in this system of medical care admistration. The management care organizations are expected to treat their patients based on researched procedure and the treatment carried out using empirical data. This guarantees that the kind of treatment provided to the patient is of good quality and hence they will appreciate the insurance companies. In conclusion, the implementation of EBP and empirical supported treatment is significantly important and has helped clinicians improve the quality of health care they provide to their patients. This new method of treatment has led to is improved patient health and quicker recuperation. However, the process is dynamic and more research is required for high quality services by clinicians. The clinicians also require to be more responsible and knowledgeable to maintain high quality medical care. References Marvin, R., and Catherine, E. (2004). The Need for a New Psychotherapy Research Paradigm: Comment on Westen, Novotny, and Thompson-Brenner: 130(4) p.669-673 Hunsley, J.(2007). Psychology: Addressing Key Challenges in Evidence-Based Practice: 38(2) p.113-121 Read More