Seven characteristics of medical evidence
- 1 May 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
- Vol. 6 (2) , 93-97
- https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2753.2000.00244.x
Abstract
This paper outlines seven essential characteristics of medical evidence and describes the implications of these for both the theory of evidence‐based medicine and clinical practice. The seven characteristics are: (1) Provisional; (2) Defeasible; (3) Emergent; (4) Incomplete; (5) Constrained; (6) Collective and (7) Asymmetric. It is argued that the epistemological theory that best fits medical evidence is that of fallibilism.Keywords
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