Compare methods

	Evidence-Based Practice Process	Routine Outcome Monitoring
Field	Social Work	Social Work
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1996	2001
Originator	Evidence-based medicine tradition (Sackett et al.); translated to social work by Gambrill and others	Michael J. Lambert and the patient-focused/measurement-based-care tradition
Type	Structured process for integrating evidence, expertise, and client values in practice decisions	Systematic repeated measurement of client outcomes to inform ongoing care
Seminal source	Sackett, D. L., Rosenberg, W. M. C., Gray, J. A. M., Haynes, R. B., & Richardson, W. S. (1996). Evidence based medicine: What it is and what it isn't. BMJ, 312(7023), 71–72.	Lambert, M. J., Hansen, N. B., & Finch, A. E. (2001). Client-focused research: Using client outcome data to enhance treatment effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69(2), 159–172.
Aliases	EBP Process, Evidence-Based Practice (Process Model), Five-Step EBP Process, Evidence-Informed Practice Process	ROM, Measurement-Based Care, Outcome Monitoring, Progress Monitoring
Related	4	4
Summary	The evidence-based practice (EBP) process is a structured, five-step way of making practice decisions by integrating the best available research evidence with professional expertise and the client's values and circumstances. Originating in evidence-based medicine as defined by Sackett and colleagues and translated into social work by Eileen Gambrill and others, it reframes EBP not as a fixed list of approved programs but as a transparent decision process — ask, acquire, appraise, apply, assess — that an individual practitioner carries out with and for a particular client.	Routine outcome monitoring (ROM), also called measurement-based care, is the practice of repeatedly administering a validated outcome measure throughout a course of treatment and using the resulting data to track each client's progress, compare it against an expected recovery trajectory, and adjust care when a client is not improving as predicted. Pioneered in psychotherapy by Michael Lambert's patient-focused research and now standard in behavioral health and social work, it turns outcome measurement from a one-time research activity into a continuous clinical feedback loop that demonstrably improves outcomes for clients who would otherwise deteriorate.