The "evidence-based medicine" (EBM) paradigm is centered on the concept of "best evidence" and clinical studies based on this approach are more likely to be considered by physicians in their practice. In this paper we describe an ontology representing the concepts involved in evidence-based medicine and meta-analysis and show how an ontological approach can be applied both for revisiting EBM co...

Shared decision-making (SDM) invokes the bidirectional communication between physicians and patients required to involve the patient's preference in the eventual treatment choice. This paper will explain what SDM is, why it is important, and how it is performed in clinical practice. It is an essential part of evidence-based medicine, as it helps determine whether the available evidence on the p...

[This corrects the article on p. 105 in vol. 18, PMID: 28116018.].

There is increasing evidence that outcomes of health care differ by patient characteristics, such as gender and ethnicity. If evidence-based medicine is to improve quality of care for all patients, it is essential to take this diversity into account when designing clinical studies. So far, this notion has mainly been translated into recommendations for including minority populations in trials. ...

BACKGROUND As the overall evidence for the effectiveness of teaching of evidence based medicine (EBM) is not strong, and the impact of cultural and societal influences on teaching method is poorly understood, we undertook a randomised-controlled trial to test the effectiveness and learning satisfaction with two different EBM teaching methods (usual teaching vs. problem based learning (PBL)) for...

This letter considers the main challenges that people with rare diseases and their families face: delay in diagnosis, lack of appropriate support and information, and impaired access to treatment. The differences in medical experience between a patient with a rare disease and one with a common one are made through the use of a real-life example: the diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma received by my mo...

BACKGROUND Previous studies report various degrees of agreement between self-perceived competence and objectively measured competence in medical students. There is still a paucity of evidence on how the two correlate in the field of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM). We undertook a cross-sectional study to evaluate the self-perceived competence in EBM of senior medical students in Malaysia, and ass...

Evidence based medicine (EBM) puts forward a hierarchy of evidence for informing therapeutic decisions. An unambiguous interpretation of how to apply EBM’s hierarchy has not been provided in the clinical literature. However, as much as an interpretation is provided proponents suggest a categorical interpretation. The categorical interpretation holds that all the results of randomised trials alw...

  Evidence based medicine (EBM) can be found as far back as the 1940s. However, it was in 1972 that the concept first came into play, originated by Professor Archie Cochrane, in his book, Effectiveness & Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services. This was the foundation for evidence based research, and in 1992 a facility was funded by the UK government, with the aim of performing r...

Dubai has rapidly risen to prominence in the Persian Gulf region as a center of global commerce and tourism and as a cultural crossroad between East and West. The health-care infrastructure has undergone rapid development. Collaborations with academic medical centers now exist to advance clinical care, teaching and research. Emergency medicine has also advanced and is undergoing dynamic change....