Evidence-based practice

Evidence-Based Practice

Evidence-based practice is the integration of clinical competence with considerable evidence, as well as client perspectives, in order to deliver the greatest quality service possible based on the interests, requirements, values, and preferences of individuals receiving the service.

Clinical Expertise

Clinical expertise is the application of a clinician’s education, experience, and clinical abilities gained over time. When the doctor combines their clinical knowledge with the client’s choices, they can choose which treatment option is ideal for the patient.

Purpose of Evidence-Based Therapy

The fundamental purpose of utilizing evidence-based therapy is to use therapies that are effective and accomplish results while reducing the usage of potentially dangerous drugs. Evidence-based practice is usually used when a client does not seem to respond to the most used therapy treatments. The EBP will best help the therapist to understand who their client is, what do they love, dislike and what is the source of their problem. The evidence-based practice is usually conducted by the use of questionnaires so as to do a proper research. The EBP has become popular so as to understand why treatment and medication do not work in some people resulting in many of them dropping out of therapy.

Therapists’ Responsibility

Therapists tend to blame themselves when they are not able to effect positive change in a client which lead to them dropping out or stay. The don’t benefit from the sessions. Most of the therapists who have little success rates feel not trained enough or smart enough than those who record higher success rates. It is important for a therapist with low success rates to study and understand what the successful ones are doing differently from them (Millers Scott & Hubble Mark, 2008). It is not always the effective therapies that work the best. Awareness should be the key driver of Therapists because they are the catalyst and matter more than the treatment, orientation, medications, and techniques that are used. The key to a superior performance is to work hard at improving performance than others. Limiting yourself to the basics of psychotherapy will not show much success, but one needs to be open to try new ideas (Robert J Reese, 2009). The key components to success for a therapist are first to determine their baseline of effectiveness, second engage in deliberate practice and thirdly getting feedback. This will only work if it is a continuous process that is done. The therapist should always be on the lookout for new information and compare them to what they already know. The idea of knowing the actual rate of success can cause worry, but one should not feel discouraged if the results are not good. Determining your rate of success is not away to be discouraged, but it will help to yield improvements when seeking excellence (Anderse Ericsson & Ralph Krampe, 1993).

Three Steps of Greatness

The therapist should also adopt the three steps of greatness which are to think, act, and reflect. In the thinking stage, a clinician should spend some time to think what their clients want, their expectations and what their needs could be, after which they should plan a strategy on how to meet the needs of the patient. In the act phase, a therapist is required to keep track of their performance on an ongoing process to be successful. In monitoring performance, one will be able to gather detailed information that they might have missed. The reflection phase entails reviewing the performance data and identifying actions and strategies that are to be implemented so as to reach their goals.

Educating Clients

Clients should be educated on the process of evidence-practice so as to be aware of its importance and benefit. It should be explained to them that the purpose of proof based practice measures is not to judge or diagnose them, but it will be a way of monitoring progress and meet goals concerning their care through their help (Charlotte L Hall & Mariah Moldaski, 2013).

Improving Therapy Effectiveness

An estimate that was done showed that about 50% of clients drop out of therapy while two-thirds don’t benefit from the standard therapist strategies. This resulted in more researching to find explanations and answers as to why this group was not responding. Most of the researches that were done on the efficiency of therapy showed that most of the change that clients start to experience usually occurred earlier in the treatment process and sometimes after the second therapy session (Baary Duncan & Scott Miller, 2006). If a customer does not show a slight improvement in the first few sessions, then the likelihood of the treatment is found to be less productive.

Importance of Therapist-Client Feedback

From the recent studies that have been done, they have found that when therapists receive feedback from clients on the effectiveness of the therapy, a significant improvement is experienced ( Kate Davidson & Andrea Perry, 2015). Most of the therapist, however, do not use the feedback instruments because it takes more time to complete, score, and interpret. The standard feedback measures used include Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) and Session Rating Scale (SRS).

Outcome Rating Scale (ORS)

The ORS is used to assess the well-being of the individual, interpersonal welfare, and the social role. When changes happen in these central areas, it is considered that the outcome of the treatment will be successful. The ORS is usually completed at the end of each session. A score of 25 is used to determine the one who is in enough distress and is in need of a helping relationship or if the client is not in distress. In this feedback measure, the therapist gets to understand how the customer is doing and if they are satisfied on a personal, interpersonal, and social level. The ongoing assessment of the Outcome Rating Scale will enable the therapist to identify their shortcomings in the delivery of service and be able to correct them (Baary Duncan & Scott Miller, 2017).

Session Rating Scale (SRS)

The Session Rating Scale is usually an assessment of the relationship or alliance developed during therapy sessions. The practice of SRS will help gauge the effectiveness of the session just completed and help the therapist understand what the client feels, whether there was a clear talk, or if they are satisfied with the approach. The SRS is focused on changing the attitude of the customer from negative to positive (Baary Duncan & Scott Miller, 2006).

Conclusion

Evidence-based practice in this study is to help determine the behavioral change of a person that could be wrongly judged if not carefully scrutinized. It the sole responsibility for the therapist to make sure they try all possible ways so as to determine the problem of a person before prescribing any medication. The therapist should also be very keen with what the customer wants or expects before commencing any therapy treatment so as to prevent poor treatment. It is also important for change to be seen in the client after the session so as to have a complete treatment. Both the patient and the therapist should work hand in hand to attain a successful treatment.

References

Krampe, A. E. (1993). The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of expert Performance. Psychological Review, 1-44.

Mark, M. S. (2008). Therapy Today. Super Shrinks, 1-10.

Miller, B. D. (2006). Using formal Client Feedback to Improve Retention and Outcome. Making ongoing real-time assessment physical, 1-18.

Miller, B. D. (2008). What is the secret of their success? Super shrinks, 1-13.

Miller, B. D. (2008). When am good am very good and when am bad am Better. A new Mantra for Psychotherapist, 1-13.

Moldaski, C. L. (2013). The use of Routine outcome measures into Child and Adolescence Mental Health Services. A completed Audit Cycle, 1-8.

Perry, K. D. (2015). Would continuous feedback of patients Clinical outcomes to practitioners improve NHS, Psychological therapy services/ Critical analysis and assessment of the quality of existing studies? Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory, Research, and Practice, 1-18.

Reese, R. J. (2009). Does a continuous feedback system improve psychotherapy outcome? Continuous Feedback System, 1-14.