EBM can't be just what we've always done - there is too much variation and even inhumanity in doctor behaviour for that to be the case. EBM is also not ivory tower or armchair medicine but a way of staying on top of a busy professional life. It is not an alternative to experience. EBM is also not 'cook-book' medicine (medicine imposed from above and slavishly followed) but an active process which integrates the doctor's own expertise, the external evidence and the patients' preferences. Clinical guidelines are similarly subject to this flexible approach. External clinical evidence can inform but never replace individual clinical expertise and it is this expertise that decides even whether the external evidence is relevant to the patient at all. EBM is not a cost-cutting exercise but a method of looking for the most effective ways to improve the quality and quantity of patients' lives. This may in fact raise, not lower, the cost of care.
Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.