EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE—WHAT IS IT

This brief section contains a definition of EBM and describes its goals and key practices. Following this, evidence-based laboratory medicine will be addressed. 

Among the definitions proposed for EBM, the foremost probably is the conscientious, judicious, and explicit use of the best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual pahenfs. The word judicious implies use of the skills of experienced clinicians to put the evidence in context, and to recognize patient individuality and preferences.A goal of EBM is to incorporate the best evidence from clinical research into clinical decisions The word best implies the necessity for critical appraisal. The words making decisions indicate why the principles of EBM can, and must, be applied in laboratory medicine as laboratory medicine is one of the fundamental tools used in making decisions in the practice of medicine. 

Since the introduction of the term evidence-based medicine in 1991 by Gordon Guyatt (initially in an editorial in ACP Journal Club and in a supplement to Annals of Internal Medicine), volumes have been written on the topic. A PubMed search on January 2,2005, for the term returned 

421 articles. The papers address every area of medicine and activities such as disease management. Compared with practitioners in many of these areas, workers in cHnical laboratories were late in embracing the activities of EBM, but numerous studies are now influencing the practice of clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine. 

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