Evidence-based and patient-centered care: results from an STFM group project.

Two recent and vital trends in family medicine have been the adoption of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and the pursuit of patient-centered care (PCC). EBM has been defined as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of patients.”1 PCC has been described by Stewart et al as the interweaving of six components: exploration of “both the disease and the illness experience, understanding the whole person, finding common ground, incorporating prevention and health promotion, enhancing the patient-doctor relationship, and being realistic.”2 EBM and PCC are often discussed as if they were either separate entities3-5 or mutually exclusive approaches.6, 7 However, there has been a growing movement toward an effective integration of both evidencebased and patient-centered approaches.8, 9 Slawson and Shaughnessy argue for a “framework of information management, built on the needs of patients rather than the availability of evidence.”10 Little has been published on how these approaches should interface to improve patient outcomes. STFM’s Group on Patient-centered Care and the Group on Evidence-based Medicine organized a joint meeting at the 37th Annual Spring Conference of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) in Toronto on May 15, 2004, to start a discussion of the concepts in to generate a collaborative model—evidence-based patient-centered care (EBPCC). The groups decided to initiate a participative research study to identify the common elements defining EBPCC, the most important barriers to an EBPCC approach, and strategies for overcoming these barriers. The authors agreed to design the study, develop the research protocol, analyze the results, and prepare a summary report for the groups. Interest group members would be responsible for data collection. IRB approval (IRB #226-04-EX) was obtained from the authors’ institution. Evidence-based and Patient-centered Care: Results From an STFM Group Project