Evidence-Based Medicine

Best Practice or Restrictive Dogma

The concept of evidence-based medicine was launched in 1991 as a new paradigm to inform medical practice and has risen to be regarded as the gold standard. It rapidly gained the attention of medics, health service managers and the general media as it presented a means to improve efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. Despite its stunning success in capturing the health agenda, the campaign that launched evidence-based medicine has also attracted criticism, particularly from clinicians and philosophers concerned about its selective views of knowledge and evidence, and for its denigration of reasoning, clinical experience and judgement.

Evidence-Based Medicine traces this movement from its launch to its meteoric rise, examining what it has done for healthcare and medicine in the context of changes in science policy and the long-running criticism held against the movement for its inherent weaknesses.

As evidence-based medicine will remain an important feature of healthcare in the decades to come, this book is perfect for healthcare professionals, medical scientists, health service managers and public health experts looking for a critical examination of the topic.

Contents:

• The Origins of Evidence-Based Medicine
• Evidence-Based Medicine in the UK
• The Cochrane Collaboration
• Evidence-Based Medicine and the Evolution of Health Related Research
• Hypothesis, Evidence, Knowledge and Reasoning in Medicine: Certainty and Uncertainty
• Evidence-Based Medicine and Medical Science
• Impact of Evidence-Based Medicine on Clinical Practice; Achievements and Limitations
• Evidence-Based Medicine and Medical Professionalism
• The Future of Evidence-Based Medicine

Readership: Healthcare professionals; medics; health service managers; public health experts.
Key Features:

• The concept of "evidence-based medicine" appears to be such an obvious good that most of what has been published has been written by advocates of the campaign or members of the movement, which tend to present uncritical or laudatory evaluations
• This book aims at a wide readership, presenting a critical examination of evidence-based medicine, its origins and role in healthcare
• Evidence-based medicine will inevitably remain an important feature of healthcare in the decades to come and will continue to be at the centre of discussion and debate as healthcare evolves to meet new challenges