Evidence based medicine, not always best evidence.
Jacob M Puliyel,
Economic & Political Weekly
Evidence Based Medicine began as a “bottom-up” paradigm that taught medical residents to search the literature for the best available evidence and to critically appraise it for making patient care decisions. As its popularity increased, there evolved a huge market for ready-made EBM summaries and reviews and there is now a scramble to provide this service. Those who provide the service come to wield tremendous influence and power. This article describes the evolution of this important tool and the pitfalls in how it is practised. People in the healthcare field need to understand all these aspects of EBM if they are to exploit its potential for public health.