Why evidence-based medicine matters more in veterinary care
Evidence-based medicine is re-emerging as a frontline issue for veterinary medicine, not because the concept is new, but because the environment around it has changed. In a December 3, 2025 essay, SkeptVet author Brennen McKenzie argued that evidence-based medicine is essential in what he called an era of rampant misinformation, positioning it as a safeguard against the profession’s predictable human errors, from confirmation bias to faulty judgment. (skeptvet.com)
The core idea itself is well established. The Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Association, founded in 2004, describes evidence-based veterinary medicine as combining the best critically designed research with clinical expertise and the needs or wishes of each client in practice. RCVS Knowledge uses a similar definition, emphasizing that decisions should reflect the best and most relevant scientific evidence, while also accounting for the individual patient, the pet parent, and the context of care delivery. (ebvma.org)
What McKenzie adds is a sharper explanation of why this matters now. In his post, he argues that evidence-based medicine is not just a method for reading papers, but a corrective for normal human limitations that can lead clinicians toward misdiagnosis, overdiagnosis, ineffective therapies, and misplaced confidence. That framing lands at a moment when veterinary teams are navigating more misinformation in exam rooms, more consumer-facing claims online, and more pressure to respond to treatments or diagnostics with uneven evidentiary support. This is an inference drawn from McKenzie’s framing and the broader institutional focus on EBVM resources and policy, rather than a new formal policy change. (skeptvet.com)
Industry and professional infrastructure around EBVM has expanded accordingly. RCVS Knowledge now maintains an open-access peer-reviewed journal, Veterinary Evidence, along with journal clubs, evidence collections, and an EBVM toolkit updated in September 2025 to help clinicians find and appraise research. The EBVMA also continues to position itself as a hub for training and practice resources, including literature-finding tools and educational programming. (rcvsknowledge.org)
The broader profession has also embedded evidence-based thinking into policy. AVMA states that veterinary medical research is fundamental to the continued advancement of evidence-based veterinary practice, and in multiple policies it explicitly calls for evidence-based decision-making, including in areas such as equine therapeutics, antimicrobial discussions, and regenerative medicine. That matters because it shows EBVM is not an academic side project; it is increasingly treated as a professional standard for making recommendations under uncertainty. (avma.org)
Why it matters: For veterinarians and practice leaders, the practical value of evidence-based medicine is consistency. It gives clinicians a framework for separating stronger evidence from weaker claims, communicating uncertainty honestly, and making recommendations that can withstand scrutiny from colleagues, regulators, and increasingly well-informed or misinformed pet parents. It also helps teams avoid swinging between two unhelpful extremes: reflexively accepting new claims because they sound promising, or rejecting innovation because the evidence base is incomplete. In a misinformation-heavy environment, EBVM supports better clinical judgment, better client communication, and, ultimately, better patient care. (skeptvet.com)
What to watch: The next phase is likely to be less about defining EBVM and more about operationalizing it, through appraisals, protocols, journal clubs, and point-of-care tools that busy teams can actually use. Watch for more education and publishing efforts aimed at translating evidence into exam-room conversations, especially in areas where pet parent expectations, online misinformation, and limited veterinary data collide. (rcvsknowledge.org)