An evidence based clinical practice involves a judicious use of the results from research experiments into the clinical decision making process.

Critical Appraisal: Before using the results from a research experiment, the clinician has to make sure if the experiment was conducted in a scientifically robust manner. Such vetting process starts with reading the research article and analysing if the researcher had followed robust methods. This is often called as a critical appraisal of a published research article. In the following page, I have clearly explained the steps to follow while appraising the quality of a research.

Evidence Collation: In addition to considering the results from a single experiment, by convention, clinicians usually collate results from similar experiments as it increases the weightage of findings. Combining the results of a number of different experiments into a single report (to read as if it was a large single experiment) helps in the following scenarios:

• to increase statistical power.
• to improve the estimates of effect size.
• to handle controversy when conflicting results are noted.

The best research evidence (as identified by the clinician through the critical appraisal and evidence collation process) helps making decisions about the care of an individual patient. The clinicians can integrate the best evidence into practice through a collaborative patient-oriented decision making process.