What is evidence-based medicine?
Short answer
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the practice of making clinical decisions by integrating three components: (1) the best available research evidence, (2) your clinical expertise, and (3) your patient's values and preferences. It follows a 5-step process: Ask, Acquire, Appraise, Apply, and Assess.
Execution Steps
- 1Ask: Formulate a clinical question using the PICO framework.
- 2Acquire: Search for the best available evidence (PubMed, Cochrane Library).
- 3Appraise: Critically evaluate the evidence for validity and applicability.
- 4Apply: Integrate evidence with clinical expertise and patient preferences.
- 5Assess: Evaluate the outcome and refine your practice.
Prompt Template
I am a [specialty] clinician asking: [clinical question]. Help me formulate this as a PICO question and suggest the best evidence sources to search.
Common Failure Points
- Treating EBM as "cookbook medicine" (ignoring clinical judgment and patient preferences)
- Only searching Google instead of medical databases for evidence
- Not checking if the evidence is still current (papers may be retracted or superseded)
FAQ
Composite User Feedback
Systematic Review Author
"The step-by-step guides helped me verify all citations and choose the right quality assessment tools."
Research Integrity Officer
"The retraction checking guides are essential reading for every researcher at our institution."
Medical Librarian
"These answer pages link directly to tools and workflows — actionable, not just informational."