From Trial Results to Bedside Judgment: A Feynman Lesson in Evidence-based Critical Care

The expansion of evidence-based medicine has profoundly shaped contemporary critical care practice, with randomized trials and guidelines increasingly informing bedside decisions. While trainees are often familiar with the headline results of major studies, many struggle to critically appraise trial design, methodology, and applicability to individual patients. This gap risks uncritical adoption of evidence without adequate consideration of context, limitations, or potential harms. Drawing on Richard Feynman's distinction between knowing labels and understanding underlying principles, this viewpoint argues that knowing trial outcomes is not equivalent to understanding the evidence itself. We highlight how headline-driven interpretations can mislead clinical practice and emphasize the importance of critical appraisal as a core clinical skill. A practical checklist is proposed to support structured bedside interpretation of ICU trials.

Sundarsingh V, Mishra SB, Kumar RM. From Trial Results to Bedside Judgment: A Feynman Lesson in Evidence-based Critical Care. Indian J Crit Care Med 2026;30(5):368-370.