Are Therapeutic Decisions Supported by Evidence From Health Care Research?

Abstract
IN RECENT years much emphasis has been placed on making clinical decisions based on evidence from the medical literature. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is an approach to medical practice that encourages the use of the results of health care research as a component of clinical decision making. The use of these results complements physicians' clinical experience and knowledge of basic sciences. There has been widespread interest in this approach, and EBM has been integrated into the undergraduate and postgraduate programs at many medical schools, including the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario.