Monitoring processes and outcomes in routine clinical practice: A promising approach to plugging the holes of the practice-based evidence colander

The field has struggled with fundamental issues related to evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation and science-practice integration. The development and implementation of routine monitoring and measurement-based care (MBC) strategies in naturalistic psychological service settings has emerged as a promising strategy to address fundamental questions and knowledge gaps. This conceptual paper marks the importance of routine monitoring in real world psychological services. In particular, routine monitoring has facilitated the harnessing of ecologically valid practice-based and patient-focused evidence, which would otherwise be lost to the field. In addition to tracing its historical context, the role and impact of routine monitoring is addressed in the areas of (a) documenting the effectiveness of psychological services, (b) patient-focused research and care, and (c) therapist differences and payment models. Limitations and challenges are also identified. Throughout, the public health significance of routine monitoring as it relates to clinical psychology is highlighted, including its increasingly prominent role in health care systems and mental health care policy. In addition, it is argued that routine monitoring should continue to be a vital transtheoretical and transdiagnostic evidence-based practice.