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Evidence-Based Medicine

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Database Systems

  • 11 Accesses

Synonyms

Evidence based practice; Scientific medicine

Definition

Evidence based medicine (EBM) is the “conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients” [1].

Key Points

Although medical practice is historically based on observation and best attempts at scientific method, early medical practices often involved trial and error or observations of one or a few cases. In the last century, advances in research, experience, technology, and communications have moved medicine more towards practice based on established evidence.

Individuals especially responsible for promoting, developing, describing, and discussing EBM have included Archie Cochrane, David Sackett [1], and Gordon Guyatt [2]. The international Cochrane Collaboration [3] has emerged to continue to advance EBM throughout the world. This and several other organizations, such as the US Preventive Services Task Force [4], have assembled, analyzed, and graded...

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Recommended Reading

  1. Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS. Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn’t. BMJ. 1996;312(7023):71–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group. Evidence-based medicine. A new approach to teaching the practice of medicine. JAMA. 1992;268(17):2420–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. The Cochrane Collaboration. 2007. Available online at http://www.cochrane.org. Accessed 30 Aug 2007.

  4. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. 2014. Available online at http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org. Accessed 7 Aug 2014.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Michael Weiner

Authors
  1. Michael Weiner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Weiner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ling Liu

  2. University of Waterloo School of Computer Science, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. Tamer Özsu

Section Editor information

  1. Clinical Programs, CIGNA Healthcare, Bloomfield, CT, USA

    Vipul Kashyap

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© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Weiner, M. (2018). Evidence-Based Medicine. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8265-9_156

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