The language of evidence based medicine: answers to common questions?
review · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 19826514.
- Also identified by DOI 10.4103/0019-5413.40245 and PMC identifier 2759634.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Evidence based medicine (EBM) is an expanding field that combines clinical intuition with the best available evidence in clinical decision making. The shift to evidence based rationale encourages educating future physicians to formulate appropriate research questions and develop critical appraisal skills that are needed to practice EBM. This article identifies areas where clinicians may struggle with epidemiological terminology when critically appraising the literature. A review of the relevant terminology encountered in studies that focus on therapy, harm, diagnosis and prognosis can be beneficial to the clinician and are explained within this article.