Evidence-based medicine

Evidence-based medicine (better known as EBM) is defined as "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients." [1].

Evidence-Based Health Care extends the application of the principles of EBM to all professions associated with health care, including purchasing and management [2].

Practicing clinicians usually cite the lack of time for reading newer textbooks or journals. However, the emergence of new types of evidence can change the way doctors treat patients. Unfortuantely the recent scientific evidence gathered through well controlled clinical trials usually do not reach the busy clinicians in real time. Another potential problem lies in the fact that there may be numerous trials on similar interventions and outcomes but they are not systematically reviewed or meta-analyzed.

See also

• Clinical decision support system
• Marsha Angell

External links

• ACC.org - 'What Is Evidence-Based Medicine?' American College of Cardiology
• AHRQ.gov - 'U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)', Agency for Health Care Research and Quality
• BEEMCourse.com - 'The Best Evidence In Emergency Medicine (BEEM) Team' Group based out of McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) that actively reviews the best emerging evidence based research in emergency medicine.
• BMJ.com - 'Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't: It's about integrating individual clinical expertise and the best external evidence', (editorial) British Medical Journal, vol 312, p 71-72 (January 13, 1996)
• BMJ.com - 'Evidence based medicine: Socratic dissent', (Education and debate) British Medical Journal, vol 310, p 1126-1127 (April 29, 1995)
• CEBM.net - Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (UK)
• CMAJ.ca - 'Evidence-based medicine: a commentary on common criticisms', Dr. Sharon E. Straus, Dr. Finlay A. McAlister, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 163, No 7, pp 837 - 841 (October 3, 2000)
• Cochrane.org - 'The Cochrane Collaboration: The reliable source for evidence in healthcare' (systematic reviews of the effects of health care interventions), Cochrane Library
• EBOnCall.org - 'Evidence compendia' (evidence-based summaries of 38 on-call medical conditions), Evidence-Based On-Call (EBOC)
• Evidence-based medicine, What is ? - The What is...? series explains the key concepts in a clear, concise and accessible format.
• GPNoteBook.co.uk - 'Evidence-based medicine (EBM)', General Practice Notebook
• HERTS.ac.uk - Evidence-Based Medicine', University of Hertfordshire
• JournalReview.org - 'An unbiased forum for review of the medical literature', An On-Line journal club
• JR2.ox.ac.uk - 'Bandolier: Evidence-based thinking about health care', Bandolier (journal)
• medlib.bu.edu = 'Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine' Boston University Medical Center Library
• MJA.com.au - 'Evidence-based medicine: useful tools for decision making', Jonathan C. Craig, Les M. Irwig, Martin R. Stockler, Medical Journal of Australia, vol 174, p 248-253 (2001)
• SHEF.ac.uk - 'Netting the Evidence: A ScHARR Introduction to Evidence Based Practice on the Internet' (resource directory), University of Sheffield
• TRIP Database - 'TRIP Database - EBM search engine' (resource directory), TRIP Knowledge Service
• BMJ.BMJjournals.com - 'Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials', Gordon C S Smith, Jill P Pell, British Medical Journal, Vol 327, pp 1459-1461 (20 December, 2003) (An entertaining study showing that situations still exist where RCTs are unnecessary.)