Evidence-based medicine

Evidence-based medicine is a systematic approach to clinical decision making that integrates the current best evidence with clinical knowledge and experience. Coined in the late 1980s by a group from McMaster University, evidence-based medicine aims to make clinical practice more grounded in up-to-date scientific findings, thereby enhancing safety, consistency, and cost-effectiveness. It recognises that traditional sources (like textbooks) cannot keep pace with rapid scientific advancements and emphasises the importance of strong critical appraisal skills to evaluate new evidence. A strong emphasis is placed on randomised controlled trials as sources of unbiased data to inform evidence-based medicine champions, and metrics like ‘numbers needed to treat’ to summarise and communicate evidence in clinical settings. Writing in the BMJ in 1996, Sackett et al. defined evidence-based medicine as requiring “a bottom up approach that integrates the best external evidence with individual clinical expertise and patients’ choice.”