PLAIN ENGLISH SUMMARY Within health services research in the UK, there has been growing interest in evidence-based medicine (EBM) and patient and public involvement (PPI) in research. These two movements have a common goal of improving the quality and transparency of clinical decision making. So far, there has been relatively little discussion about how these two movements might relate to each ...

Measuring the outcome of an intervention is central to the practice of evidence based medicine, and most research papers evaluating patient outcomes now incorporate some form of patient-based metric, such as questionnaires or performance tests. Once an outcome has been defined, researchers typically want to know if any other factors can influence the result. This is typically assessed with regr...

Prescribing costs for the prevention of cardiovascular disease are rising nationally, particularly in relation to implementation of the National Service Framework for coronary heart disease. Prescribing effective treatment that is going to benefit the patient's overall management--evidence based medicine--is the key to funding drugs for cardiovascular prevention. It is clear that there is a lot...

Background: Education experts are starting to explore the potential uses of wearable technology and augmented reality in simulation-based training. In this article, we summarize our experiences with using Google Glass in simulation-based training and discuss potential future directions with this advanced technology. Methods: Emergency medicine residents and medical students participated in a pi...

Patients with acute coronary syndromes represent a clinically diverse group and their care remains heterogeneous. These patients account for a significant burden of morbidity and mortality in Australia. Optimal patient outcomes depend on rapid diagnosis, accurate risk stratification and the effective implementation of proven therapies, as advocated by clinical guidelines. The challenge is in ef...

AIMS This paper is a report of a study conducted to explore the relationship between nurses' personal and professional factors and evidence-based nursing practice. BACKGROUND Like most health-related professions, nursing is shifting from the traditional intuition-based paradigm to evidence-based nursing practice. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2007 with a convenience samp...

BACKGROUND Evidence based practice promotes self assessment and ensures delivery of up to date care to patients. The concept of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) in developing countries is still in its infancy where strong opinions drive patient care. METHODS We conducted a cross sectional survey to explore the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes regarding EBM in final year medical students and ...

BACKGROUND People using the Internet to find information on health issues, such as specific diseases, usually start their search from a general search engine, for example, Google. Internet searches such as these may yield results and data of questionable quality and reliability. Health Library is a free-of-charge medical portal on the Internet providing medical information for the general publi...

The term evidence-based medicine was first coined by Sackprognosis of disease, how to quantify disease (measureett and colleagues as “the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.” The key to practicing evidence-based medicine is applying the best current knowledge to decisions in individual patients. Medical kn...

BACKGROUND The prevailing view in therapeutic clinical research today is that observational studies are useful for generating new hypotheses and that controlled experiments (i.e., randomized clinical trials, RCTs) are the most appropriate method for assessing and confirming the efficacy of interventions. DISCUSSION The current trend towards patient-centered medicine calls for alternative ways...