What is EBM?
This module discusses the definition of Evidence Based Medicine or EBM, and the steps in practising EBM.
Asking a focused clinical question
It has been said that "the best way to get a good answer is, and will remain, to ask a good question." It is therefore important that we develop the skill of asking or framing a focused, answerable question from the clinical dilemmas we face so that we are able to find the right information to answer our question.
The basic types of clinical questions that we ask in practice pertain to:
1. therapy, or the effectiveness of treatment;
2. diagnosis, or the accuracy of diagnostic tests;
3. harm, or the harmful effects of certain exposures;
4. the prognosis of certain conditions.
Sometimes, we ask more complex questions, which involve asking more than one of these basic questions together, or summarizing two or more studies. These complex questions would require us to assess:
1. systematic reviews, or summaries of the body of literature on a problem;
2. clinical practice guidelines, or recommendations on patient care;
3. studies on the efficacy of screening tests for early detection of disease.