[Evidence-based medicine: a new way of practicing pediatrics]

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) integrates the best scientific evidence (from patient-centered clinical research) with individual clinical experience and patient values. This method has been designed for use in daily clinical practice. It enables pediatricians to be up to date in the knowledge required to provide patients with high quality medical care. EBM requires four steps: a) formulating a clinical question arising from a doubt concerning a patient; b) conducting an efficient literature search to answer this question; c) applying rules of evidence to selected articles to determine the validity of their design and the clinical relevance of their results; and d) applying these results in the patient who was the stimulus for the question. In this paper we explain the basic concepts of EMB and provide an extensive compilation of internet databases providing information that is valid and relevant to pediatricians in daily clinical practice. A selection of useful tools for developing critical self-appraisal skills is also provided.