Session 6 Evidence Based Medicine Flashcards
What does biological plausibility refer to?
Refers to coherence with the current body of biological knowledge
A biological plausible mechanism strengthens the case for a causal link
What is evidence-based medicine?
“Evidence-based medicine is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in the making”
What does the practice of evidence-based medicine mean/involve?
It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research
external clinical evidence can INFORM but can NEVER replace individual clinical expertise
It is this expertise that decides whether the external evidence applies to the individual patient at all
What 3 key things make up evidence-based medicine?
Clinical Judgement
Relevant Scientific Evidence
Patients’ values and Preferences
Describe the hierarchy of evidence from best quality to worst quality of evidence (7)
which ones are classed as filtered information and which ones are classed as unfiltered information?
- Systematic Reviews
- Critically appraised topics (evidence syntheses)
- Critically appraised individual articles (article synopses)
- Randomised Controlled Trials
- Cohort Studies
- Case-Controlled Studies / Case Series / Reports
- Background information or Expert opinions
filtered information = 1-3
unfiltered information = 4-6
If something is ‘Scientifically proven to work’
what does this mean?!
‘you are more likely to benefit than not’
i.e. the majority of people receiving this treatment are cured
OR
‘It is better than the other treatment’
i.e. more people receiving this treatment are cured than those on the other treatment
if something is ‘proven to work’
what does this mean?!
‘you are more likely to benefit than not’ but not always ‘it is better than the other treatment’
(so scientifically proven is kinda better)
