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Seven characteristics of medical evidence
Author(s) -
Upshur Ross E. G.
Publication year - 2000
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.1365-2753.2000.00244.x
Subject(s) - defeasible estate , evidence based medicine , epistemology , medical practice , best evidence , evidence based practice , psychology , alternative medicine , medicine , medical education , philosophy , pathology
This paper outlines seven essential characteristics of medical evidence and describes the implications of these for both the theory of evidence‐based medicine and clinical practice. The seven characteristics are: (1) Provisional; (2) Defeasible; (3) Emergent; (4) Incomplete; (5) Constrained; (6) Collective and (7) Asymmetric. It is argued that the epistemological theory that best fits medical evidence is that of fallibilism.