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Evidence‐based medicine and the real world: understanding the controversy
Author(s) -
Ghali William A.,
Saitz Richard,
Sargious Peter M.,
Hershman Warren Y.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2753.1999.00183.x
Subject(s) - evidence based medicine , alternative medicine , real world evidence , engineering ethics , clinical practice , medicine , medline , public relations , political science , family medicine , law , pathology , engineering
Controversy has surrounded the ‘paradigm’ of evidence‐based medicine since its introduction in 1992 as a new approach to the teaching and practice of medicine. Here, we address two questions: (1) is evidence‐based medicine a good thing?; and (2) why has so much controversy arisen? In addressing these questions, we propose that the discussion surrounding evidence‐based medicine should no longer be about whether the application of evidence in clinical practice is a good thing, because it obviously is. Instead, the debate ought to focus on the more difficult question of how to enhance its acceptability among busy clinicians practising in the ‘real world’. For the future, we optimistically anticipate an enhanced adoption of evidence‐based medicine, as clinicians will become increasingly capable of efficiently accessing existing and forthcoming evidence resources.