“Evidence-based medicine is the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values”
SafeMinds is a founding member of CUE, a program of the US Cochrane Center which promotes the assessment and dissemination of scientific evidence by grassroots consumer organizations so that patients and families can evaluate the risks and benefits of interventions to make informed healthcare choices. Sallie Bernard, SafeMinds President, was a CUE steering committee co-chair from is now a representative. She is giving a workshop at this year’s Cochrane Colloquium in Keystone Colorado for the Sunday consumer meeting day entitled “Levels of evidence, benefits of each and when and how to use different kinds of evidence” along with Dr. Prathap Tharyan, South Asian Cochrane Network & Centre.
SafeMinds supports the Cochrane definition of evidence-based healthcare because it values the consumer voice as well as the judgment of the clinician in healthcare decisions.
Evidence-based health care is the conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients or the delivery of health services. Current best evidence is up-to-date information from relevant, valid research about the effects of different forms of health care, the potential for harm from exposure to particular agents, the accuracy of diagnostic tests, and the predictive power of prognostic factors.
Evidence-based clinical practice is an approach to decision-making in which the 
clinician uses the best evidence available, in consultation with the patient, to decide upon the option which suits that patient best.
Evidence-based medicine is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.
From Cochrane website – http://www.cochrane.org/about-us/evidence-based-health-care
For more information:
Joint Colloquium of the Cochrane & Campbell Collaborations
Bringing Evidence-Based Decision-Making to New Heights
18 – 22 October 2010 – Keystone Resort, Colorado, USA
