Education in Evidence-Based Health Care: Never A Greater Need

When we first published our call for revisiting efforts to teach the skills of evidence-based healthcare (EBHC) back in November 2019, “COVID-19” was absent from society’s vocabulary. The aim of our call was to discuss, debate and demonstrate effective teaching of the knowledge, skills and competencies underpinning evidence-based practice in medicine and healthcare. We wanted to challenge current practice and consider the next paradigm shift in teaching and practice. Who knew how much the world would change in the months that followed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly been the paradigm shift to end all others. It has arguably provided the greatest stress test of evidence-based medicine, both from a public health perspective and clinical care, since the term was coined three decades ago. It has brought to the surface long-standing issues with unprecedented levels of exposure—not least the role of evidence for addressing uncertainty.

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of health science and research that is efficiently produced, evaluated and acted on. Hand in hand with this comes the ability to ask, find, appraise and apply evidence to support effective decisions. These abilities are essential skills—skills that need to be taught. Where there is a need to be taught, there is a need for people to teach. The final article in the series aims to aid EBHC educators in this mission. Through collaboration and consensus, our peers come together to provide aspiring EBHC teachers a resource of their go-to articles in support of effective and inspirational teaching and education.