Update in Outpatient General Internal Medicine: Practice-Changing Evidence Published in 2021

Area of Science:

• Internal Medicine
• Clinical Practice Guidelines
• Evidence-Based Medicine

Background:

• Keeping up with new clinical practice-shifting evidence in internal medicine is challenging.
• Synthesizing relevant articles and guideline updates aids physicians in staying informed.
• Coronavirus disease 2019 research was excluded from this review.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and synthesize practice-changing evidence for internal medicine physicians.
• To facilitate staying informed of critical updates in general internal medicine.
• To provide a curated list of high-impact clinical research.

Main Methods:

• Reviewed 7 high-impact general internal medicine outpatient journals.
• Included article synopsis collections and databases like NEJM Journal Watch and Cochrane Reviews.
• Utilized a modified Delphi method with 8 internal medicine physicians to reach consensus on clinical relevance and impact.

Main Results:

• A total of 8 practice-changing articles were identified and included.
• Consensus was reached on article qualities, importance, and relevance to outpatient internal medicine.
• Articles were clustered by topic for comprehensive review.

Conclusions:

• The synthesis successfully identified key practice-changing articles for internal medicine.
• This approach aids in disseminating crucial clinical evidence to physicians.
• Eight significant articles were selected for their potential to impact clinical practice.