Advances in Evidence-Based Information Resources for Clinical Practice

Astonishing as it may be (at least to patients), it has not been possible for health care practitioners to reliably and quickly look up “current best evidence” on the management of clinical problems. Recently, a number of tools and services have been developed by the advocates of evidence-based health care to provide practitioners (and patients) with access to current best evidence on an expanding range of clinical topics. These include periodic print summaries of individual studies and systematic reviews of evidence, and electronic databases of reports of original studies and evidence summaries. Traditional textbooks of clinical practice are gradually being augmented or replaced by electronic versions that are more frequently updated and more often based on current best evidence. Information technology is now being harnessed to provide ubiquitous access, including at the point-of-care, to evidence-based resources. This article describes the general principles behind, and selected resources for, clinicians keeping up to date with best evidence for decision making, including a bibliography of current services.