In a world where information can be achieved with a click of a button and yet can be disorganized and unvalidated, Dr. David Sackett in 1996 introduced the concept of Evidence Based Medicine. Defined as a conscientious, explicit, judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patient, Dr. Sackett described it as a means of integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research. It was created so that as physicians, we can be up to date with the latest modalities, whether diagnostic, treatment or clinical practice guidelines, but more importantly for better quality of care and utilization of resources.
In their book “Painless Evidence-Based Medicine”, Drs. Antonio Dans, Leonila Dans and Maria Asuncion Silvestre set forth this definition "EBM is a systematic approach to the acquisition, appraisal and application of research evidence to guide healthcare decisions."
The EINC Bulletin will look at the respective studies behind the EINC practices, dissect them and provide a short assessment that are sound and evidence - based. But in the end we should always emphasize that you are still the attending physician. After all it is the triad of individual clinical expertise, best external evidence and patient values and expectations that forms the backbone of evidence based medicine.
