In the previous section we mentioned that information literacy is important to evidence-based practice (EBP). So what exactly is (EBP)? In their seminal article published in the British Medical Journal in 1996, Sackett et al. define evidence-based medicine (EBM) as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients” (1996, ¶ 2). While first introduced in the field of medicine, the concept of EBM has evolved to include other health care fields (Perry & Kronenfeld, 2005). Evidence-based practice often refers to using the concepts first defined in EBM in health care. While EBM and EBP are often used interchangeably, they are not necessarily exactly the same. For our purposes, we can think of evidence-based practice as using evidence in clinical decision making (Gebb, Young, and Anderson, 2013).
Greenhalgh proposes another definition of EBM in her book, How to Read a Paper (2019), incorporating the aspect of mathematics:
Evidence-based medicine is the use of mathematical estimates of the risk of benefit and harm, derived from high-quality research on population samples to inform clinical decision-making in the diagnosis, investigation, or management of individual patients. (pg. 1)
In later work, Sackett et al. (2000) refined the definition of evidence-based medicine to "the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values" (p. 1). These three components are referred to as the evidence-based triad.
Watch the video below for a quick introduction to the evidence-based triad.
Evidence based practice relies on following a series of steps to improve health care delivery and outcomes: 
As you can see, the concepts of information literacy are very important to steps three and four, and we will discuss locating resources and searching in subsequent sections of this tutorial.
Gebb, B.A., Young, Z., & Anderson, B.A. (2013). Evaluating and using the evidence. In B.A. Anderson & S. Stone (Eds.), Best practices in midwifery: Using the evidence to implement change. Springer Publishing.
Greenhalgh, T. (2019). How to read a paper, (6th ed.). Wiley Blackwell.
Perry, G.J., & Kronenfeld, M.R. (2005). Evidence-based practice: A new paradigm brings new opportunities for health sciences librarians. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 24(4), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1300/j115v24n04_01
Sackett, D., Rosenberg, W., Gray, J., Haynes, R., & Richardson, W. (1996 Jan 13). Evidence-based medicine: what it is and what it isn't. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 312(7023), 71-72. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.312.7023.71
Sackett, D. L., Straus, S. E., Richardson, W. S., Rosenberg, W., & Haynes, R. B. (2000). Evidence-based medicine : how to practice and teach EBM (2nd ed.). Churchill Livingstone.