10 - Evidence-Based Prescribing

Summary

As healthcare professionals we strive to provide the best treatments for all our patients. We should have the confidence that after we have made an accurate diagnosis and assessment of clinical need, then the treatment which we recommend should be the best available for each patient. Evidence-based prescribing can be defined as using the best available information to recommend the most effective treatment for the person you are treating. At present we appear to be under siege from an assault of ‘fake news’ stories or ‘alternative facts’. As clinicians we have a duty to do the best for our patients on the most accurate information. In order to do this we require an armamentarium which includes the ability to sift fact from fiction. This chapter will provide a practical outline of how to sift the evidence and give you the confidence to prescribe using the best evidence base. It will also cover the issues of pharmacovigilance, adverse drug reactions and consider the future of evidence-based prescribing.