Library Home > Subject Links > Evidence Based Medicine > What is Evidence Based Medicine?
What is Evidence-Based Medicine?
Evidence Based Medicine is…
Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use
of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual
patients.
The practice of evidence based medicine means integrating individual clinical
expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic
research.”
--David
L. Sackett et al, Evidence-based medicine: what it is and what it isn’t, BMJ 1996;312:71-2
“Evidence-Based Medicine is a process of life-long, problem-based
learning…”
--Jo Dorsch, Univ. Illinois at Chicago, UIC Library
of the Health Sciences-Peoria
Five Steps in the EBM Process
- Define the question specifically
- Collect evidence to answer the question
- Critically appraise the evidence
- Integrate the evidence with the patient factors, then make and carry out the clinical decision
- Evaluate the process in order to improve for the future
---Ann McKibbon, PDQ; Evidence-Based Principles and Practice, St. Louis, B.C. Decker, 1999
Asking the Question
Factors in a well-phrased question include:
- P - A particular patient
- I - An intervention or exposure (It may be a therapy, a diagnostic test, a prognostic factor, etc)
- C - Comparison interventions, if necessary
- O - An outcome
Collecting the evidence
Databases for reports of studies
Filtering for Evidence Based Reports
Additional information about evidence based medicine
Articles About EBM and EBM Methods
Books About Evidence Based Medicine
