Managing professional conduct from an evidence-based perspective: A critical analysis

Evidence-based practice, first developed in medicine as a response to the exponential growth in the knowledge required to exercise clinical judgment, is now seen as way to rationalize professional practice in the fields of health and social services. However, correctly assessing its contributions requires understanding its limitations, which are the result of a series of methological reductions. These reductions are analyzed in relation to the more or less voluntary introduction of the evidence-based practice perspective into a new philosophy of public service management.