The care and feeding of evidence based medicine

Wide interest in evidence based medicine (EBM) and its value in patient care, insurance payment decisions, and public health planning has triggered intense medical journal and media coverage that merits review, explanation, and comment. Published EBM data vary in quality for reasons that have been the subject of many perceptive literature reviews. Study design can be faulted, and conflicts of interest, personal and economic, can potentially bias study results and their publication. Practical guides for data evaluation are presented here, with discussion of technical and sociological issues that affect information quality and its clinical application. Clinical practice often appears to resist good evidence in making clinical choices. Personal views of some practicing physicians about EBM are presented that underlie the occasional difficulties in applying valid research information in patient care. Improvements in study design and publication standards may enhance the clinical application of evidence-based information. EBM guided practice holds promise to improve outcomes and expense, to standardize and streamline process in ways that make for much safer patient care.