E N D
Evidence Based Health Care Arindam Basu University of Canterbury Christchurch, New Zealand E-mail: arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz
Objective of This Presentation • Explain Evidence Based Health Care (EBHC) • Explain Key Terms and Rationale • This is a Low LevelOverview • Forin-depth Discussion, • Check the Resources Section of these Slides • Email at arin.basu@gmail.com with specific question • Search the Internet Read and Practice More …
What Shall We Cover • What is meant by EBHC • Steps and processes of EBHC • How todo EBHC
Problems in modern health care • High Costs • Inequality or inequity of access to care • Practice Variations
What Can a Clinician Do About It? • Select the Best Literature (Read Selectively) • Search Efficiently • Search Keeping the Patient in Focus • Learn to Critically Appraise Literature • Incorporate Best Evidence in Practice
Enter, EBHC • Evidence based medicine or health care • Explicit, judicious use of best information
Purpose of EBHC • Stronger foundation for clinical work • Achieve consistency • Efficiency • Effectiveness • Quality and safety
Popularity of EBM • Organizations devoted to do EBM • Journal Clubs in Hospitals • Care Pathways, and Outcomes Research • EBM curricula in Medical Education
Definition • Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. • (David Sackett, 1995)
What does EBHC involve? • Statistical meta analysis • Promotion ofRCTs • Reporting Styles • Self Evaluation • Use of Clinical Practice Guidelines • Addresses Clinical Practice Variations • (Timmermans, 2010, Health Affairs)
Evidence Based Health Care Practice • Clinical Expertise • External Evidence • Patient Centric Shared Decision
Clinical expertise • Proficiency • Judgment • Clinical Experience and Practice
Signs and Symptoms of Clinical Expertise • Effective Diagnosis • Efficient Diagnosis • Identification and compassion with Patients’ • Predicaments • Rights, • Preferences • (The Clinician is Patient Focused, Saves Money, and Good at Diagnosing and Treating!)
Best available external evidence • Clinically relevant research • Basic sciences of medicine • Patient-centered clinical research
Good External Evidence … • Challenges Previously accepted diagnostic tests • Replaces with new ones • Makes Decision Making More powerful • Makes Decision Making More efficacious • Makes Practice Safer
Different Types of Clinical Evidence Studies • Diagnostic and Screening Studies • Accuracy • Precision • Prognostic Markers • Safety and Efficacy • Therapy • Rehabilitation • Prevention
What Happens with Only Expertise but No Evidence? • Tyrannical • Cannot always apply to single patients • No current evidence • Out of date • Can be dangerous to patients
Knowledge Evolves in Paradigms • Biology or Eminence Based Medicine Was Old Paradigm • Evidence Based Medicine is a paradigm shift • EBHC is the NEW Paradigm in health care
Steps • Frame a Question • Search the Literature • Critically Appraise Studies • Synthesize Information from Studies • Work with Your Patient to Share Decisions
How to Frame Questions? • Foreground Knowledge • Background Knowledge • People • Intervention • Exposure • Comparison Group • Outcomes
Background Knowledge • Established knowledge • Clinical Expertise • Knowledge learned from Textbooks • Usually covered in University Curricula • Basis of Asking Further Questions
Foreground knowledge • Knowledge Gained by Systematic Inquiry • New knowledge
Challenge 1: Alternatives? • Eminence Based Medicine or Health • Experience Based health • Opinion Based health • What are the problems with these?
So, How Do You Learn to Do EBH? • Develop Clinical Expertise • Frame Answerable Questions • Search Literature • Critically Appraise Literature • Do Shared Decision Making with Patients/Clients
PICO Approach • People-Interventions-Comparator-Outcomes
People • "Who" aspect of the question • They should match your Target Patient • Age, Sex, Other characteristics
Challenge 2: Low Back Pain in a 40 year old Nurse • A 40 year old nurse approachesuswith low back pain and you have heard that bed rest is good treatment in general for low back pain. How do you know that it is indeed good for this patient? What would you advise? What are the risks and benefits? How do you know? what questions will you frame?
Intervention or Exposure • What treatment is proposed? • What was the patient or the person exposed to? • Example: is exposure to cell phone radiation really bad for health for older people? For pregnant? For a child? How do you know?
Comparison Group • Who are compared with? • What Should Be Parameters of Comparison?
Outcomes • What outcomes are relevant? • Pain? • Are all outcomes measurable • What are the different types of outcomes?
Challenge 3: Ginger Patch • ProfessorX has developed a treatment he calls “Ginger Patch” and claims that it is a great remedy for low back pain among a variety of patients. You have not heard about this treatment before and would like to take an Evidence Based Health Approach. How would you frame your question?
Searching the Scholarly Literature • What is Scholarly Literature? • Why Should one use Specialized Databases? • What Databases are out there?
Some Literature Databases • Google Scholar • Ovid • Medline (Pubmed and Pubmed Central) • Embase • CINAHL • Web of Science • IndMed??
Use of different terms (specific terms) • Look Up Help Files • Ovid • Medline [MeSH] • Google Scholar • Subject Headings
Fuzzy Logic • Artificial intelligence Based • Nearness • Usually Words or Cluster • Curation of databases is important
What to look for? • Is the research is believable? • What does the literature say? • Can I apply to my patient?
Are there significant biases? • Systematic Errors • Response Bias • Selection Bias • Confirmation Bias