Understanding Health Research: evidence-based medicine, practice and policy

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• Format Websites
• Language/s English
• Target Audience Self-directed learning
• EBM Stage 0 - Why EBM?
• Duration <5 mins
• Difficulty Intermediate

Key Concepts addressed

• 2-2a Reviews of fair comparisons should be systematic
• 2-3b Relative measures of effects can be misleading
• 1-2e Comparisons are needed to identify treatment effects

Details

Evidence-based medicine, evidence-based practice and evidence-based policy are terms used to describe making decisions using scientific evidence instead of subjective opinion or other influences.

If a health service decided to start using a new drug because they had a good relationship with the company that made the drug, that decision would not be based on evidence. However, if they used systematic review of rigorous clinical trials to check that the drug was safe, effective, and affordable, then using the new drug would be an example of evidence-based medicine.

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