[Evidence-based clinical database--rational use saves time]

During the last decade, the production of medical information has doubled every 14 months. It is predicted that information will double at an even faster rate. This dramatic rate of changing medical knowledge presents a challenge for physicians to keep up to date. Physicians are usually eager for the latest medical information. The late British epidemiologist, Archie Cochrane, developed a relatively new approach using up-to-date medical information. His approach integrates individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research. Through this method new information is located, identified and its significance evaluated. If the new information has been proven to be reliable and relevant, it is integrated into existing information systems to be used by physicians all over the world. This approach is called evidence-based medicine. This review will summarize the four leading clinical databases which are evidence based medicine oriented: Dynamed, Cochrane Library, Trip database and Attract, and short presentation of the best evidence based medicine "secondary literature".