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The purpose of this paper is to integrate existing body of knowledge on evidence‐based management, develop a theory of evidence, and propose a model of evidence‐based decision making.

Following a literature review, the paper takes a conceptual approach toward developing a theory of evidence and a process model of decision making. Formal research propositions amplify both theory and model.

The paper suggests that decision making is at the heart of management practice. It underscores the importance of both research and experiential evidence for making professionally sound managerial decisions. It argues that the strength of evidence is a function of its rigor and relevance manifested by methodological fit, relevance to the context, transparency of its findings, replicability of the evidence, and the degree of consensus within the decision community. A multi‐stage mixed level model of evidence‐based decision making is proposed with suggestions for future research.

An explicit, formal, and systematic collaboration at the global level among the producers of evidence and its users akin to the Cochrane Collaboration will ensure sound evidence, contribute to decision quality, and enable professionalization of management practice.

The unique value contribution of this paper comes from a critical review of the evidence‐based management literature, the articulation of a formal theory of evidence, and the development of a model for decision making driven by the theory of evidence.

The relatively recent attention that evidence-based decision making has received in health care management has been at least in part due to the profound influence of evidence-based medicine. The result has been several comparisons in the literature between the use of evidence in health care management decisions and the use of evidence in medical decision making. Direct comparison, however, may be problematic, given the differences between medicine and management as they relate to (1) the nature of evidence that is brought to bear on decision making; (2) the maturity of empirical research in each field (in particular, studies that have substantiated whether or not and how evidence-based decision making is enacted); and (3) the context within which evidence-based decisions are made. By simultaneously reviewing evidence-based medicine and management, this chapter aims to inform future theorizing and empirical research on evidence-based decision making in health care settings.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that police research has reached a level of acceptance such that executive management has an ethical obligation to their communities to use evidence-based practices.

Using an Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) framework the authors apply an ethical-based decision-making model to policing decisions. EBM does not allow physicians to ignore research when giving guidance to patients. The authors compare the two professional approaches to decision making and argue policing has reached a level of research that if ignored, just like medicine, should be considered unethical. Police interventions can potentially be harmful. Rather than do no harm, the authors argue that police managers should implement practices that are the least harmful based on the current research.

The authors found policing has a substantial amount of research showing what works, what does not, and what looks promising to allow police executives to make decisions based on evidence rather than tradition, culture, or best practice. There is a deep enough fund of knowledge to enable law enforcement leadership to evaluate policies on how well the policies and procedures they enforce prevent crime with a minimum of harm to the communities they are sworn to protect and serve.

Policing has yet to view community interventions as potentially harmful. Realigning police ethics from a lying, cheating, stealing, lens to a “doing the least harm” lens can alter the practitioner’s view of why evidence-based policing is important. Viewing executive decision from an evidence-based ethical platform is the future of evaluating police executive decisions.

The emergence of evidence‐based medicine has implications for the use and development of information retrieval systems which are not restricted to the area of medicine. ‘Evidence‐based’ practice emphasises the retrieval and application of high quality knowledge in order to solve real‐world problems. However, information seeking to support such evidence‐based approaches to decision making and problem solving makes demands on retrieval systems which they are not well suited at present to satisfy. A number of approaches have been developed in the field of medicine that seek to address these limitations. The extent to which such approaches may be applied to other areas is discussed, as are their limitations.

The evidence‐based practice (EBP) model appears to have established itself as the principal change driver and discourse for the healthcare sector. This study sets out to identify the emergence of the term EBP in the professional literature to establish an empirical foundation for discussion. The understanding of and relevance to healthcare practitioners in a large South West London hospital are assessed and their views related to the perspective of library and information professionals to assess implications for practice.

An extensive literature search was carried out and the data generated used to produce a growth curve for the literature. A survey of health care professionals using e‐mail and follow‐up interviews was undertaken at the case hospital.

Between 1998 and 2004 the number of papers appearing to discuss the theme increased four‐fold. The first recorded reference was in 1991. The EBP model had strong official and political support in the field. On the user sample there is evidence of resistance to the orthodoxy.

The EBP model – variously adopted by several healthcare agencies – has placed information management at the centre of the care process. In spite of this, there are few definite implications for the role of library and information professionals, since the world of information and the UK NHS itself are continually in a state of flux, and the current EBP dominance may neither strengthen nor safeguard it.

The bibliometric study provides a baseline. The study of healthcare professionals is a case study to add to knowledge of practice.

How is medical knowledge produced and what are the implications of that knowledge production for medical practice? Using theoretical ideas on evidence-based medicine, standardization in medical research and practice, and biopower, I examine the relationship between medical knowledge and medical practice through the case of pelvic pain care in the US.

Data from ethnographic observations at two medical conferences as well as interviews with healthcare providers inform a critical analysis of the medical discourse.

The analysis reveals how evidence-based medicine is practiced in the context of medical conditions that lack objective evidence, as well as the unintended consequences of such practices. I provide an alternative approach to medical practice for conditions lacking traditional evidence through presenting outlier cases in the data.

In doing so, I make the broad theoretical argument that biomedical paradigms must emerge through the critical process of negative dialectics in order to reach past the limits of standardized medical care.

In sociologically analyzing the case of pelvic pain care, I reveal dire limits in the evidence-based approach to medical care for conditions and symptoms that may be deemed medical anomalies, demanding an alternative approach to care for such conditions.

This study reports the findings of the first survey of the knowledge and needs for training in evidence based medicine (EBM) of health‐care workers in Slovakia. This study was primarily qualitative and based on a triangular approach, which included: analysis of the situation in pre‐ and postgraduate education in Slovakia aimed at estimating needs in EBM and critical appraisal skills (CAS) training; analysis of questionnaires distributed in a sample of medical doctors and university educated public health workers undergoing postgraduate training; and focus group discussions. The findings revealed a real gap in knowledge in EBM and CAS in Slovakia and identified several areas as the focus for intervention. The results showed also some important behavioural and cultural aspects, including low individual responsibility for education; tendency to delegate responsibility to authorities (experts, top management, Ministry of Health); and persistence of the state paternalistic type of education. Concludes that managers planning to implement EBM in Slovakia should therefore consider a broader behavioural and cultural context for change, not just introduction of a training EBM module.

The concept of evidence‐based medicine, or medical practice based on up‐to‐date research about the best available diagnoses and treatments, has been well accepted into mainstream medicine. In contrast, evidence‐based quality improvement, culminating in evidence‐based dissemination or implementation of the latest research, is far from a reality. One of the many reasons for this failure is that all responsible for dissemination and implementation do not understand or apply relevant theories from the social and educational sciences. Rather, many popular approaches to quality improvement have been chosen empirically, unguided by theory. Sometimes these choices have resulted in failure and/or unintended consequences. The purpose of this review is to categorize and explain various theories relevant to quality improvement interventions. Each reviewed theory is connected with approaches the theory suggests would be successful. The review discusses how knowledge of improvement theory can drive not only the choice of techniques to employ but also the choice of contexts for employment. The review offers a critique of some theories and their associated approaches.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the application of evidence-based management to chronic disease healthcare.

Chronic healthcare is specially characterized by recursive patient-physician interactions in which evidence-based medicine (EBM) is applied. However, implementing evidence-based solutions to improve healthcare quality requires managers to effect changes in many different areas: organizational structure, procedures, technology and in physician/provider behaviors. To complicate matters further, they must achieve these changes using the tools of resource allocation or incentives. The literature contains many systematic reviews evaluating the question of physician and patient behavior under various types and structures of incentives. Similarly, systematic reviews have also been done regarding specific changes to the healthcare process and their effectiveness in improving patient outcomes. Yet, these reviews uniformly lament a lack of appropriate data from well-organized studies on the question of “Why?” solutions may work in one instance while not in another. The authors present a new theoretical framework that aids in answering this question.

This paper presents a new theoretical framework (Influence Model of Chronic Healthcare) that identifies: the critical areas in which managers can effect changes that improve patient outcomes; the influence these areas can have on each other, as well as on patient and physician behavior; and the mechanisms by which these influences are exerted. For each, the authors draw upon, and present the evidence in the literature. Ultimately, the authors recognize that this is a complex question that has not yet been fully researched. The contribution of this model is twofold: first, the authors hope to focus future research efforts, and second, provide a useful heuristic to managers who must make decisions with only the lesser-quality evidence the literature contains today.

This model can be used by managers as a heuristic either ex ante or ex post to determine the effectiveness of their decisions and strategies in improving healthcare quality. In addition, it can be used to analyze why actions or decisions taken achieved a given outcome, and how best to proceed to effect further improvements on patient outcomes. Last, the model serves to focus attention on specific questions for further research.