EBM, the once and future paradigm

[摘要] It's now about 10 years since I was introduced into the world of evidence-based medicine (EBM). It was claimed to be a new paradigm, a marriage of epidemiological analysis with clinical insight and creativity. Perhaps the most radical implication of the new discipline was the idea that experts, whether in the form of senior clinicians or researchers, no longer had the right, or the need, to impose an approved model of clinical practice on ordinary clinicians and their patients. We EBMers, with our critical appraisal checklists and ability to explain Odds Ratios, did not need experts to tell us what to do. We would formulate structured clinical questions in collaboration with our patients and then find and interpret the best evidence to solve each individual patient's problem.

[学科分类] 卫生学