The importance of randomized clinical trials and evidence‐based medicine: A clinician's perspective

Clinical evaluation of therapies for patient care has evolved during the twentieth century from a variety of scientific methods. As a result of medical, political, and economic changes that occurred in the 1990s, randomized clinical trials and evidence‐based methods are presently in the forefront of the physician's thinking in the decision‐making process for therapeutic interventions. A new standard of patient care has emerged during this process. This report provides a clinician's viewpoint of the importance and interpretation of evidence‐based methods and suggests a strategy when such evidence does not exist.