Evidence-based Medicine: Asking The Answerable Question (Question Templates as Tools)

We introduce the evidence-based medicine (EBM) approach by distilling the process of asking an answerable question to a few easy steps. (1) A promise made in our introduction to this series involved reviewing techniques whereby literature searches can be conducted more efficiently through the use of conve-nient tools. (2) Asking answerable clinical questions is the first of five steps in the EBM process that will deliver on this promise. The wisdom recently discovered in a Chinese fortune cookie presents an essential and relevant truth: “It is harder to ask the right questions than to find answers for the wrong questions. ” [Chinese Fortune Cookie (The Orient Express, Dayton, OH, 2002)]. Why is an EBM approach to formalizing a clinical question necessary? Asking questions helps to identify and satisfy our own learning needs, aids in communicating with our colleagues, and allows us to teach others by modeling sound EBM techniques. Improve-ment is needed in this particular skill. In a study examining “curbside consultations,” clinical questions were more likely to be answered directly and less likely to require a formal consultation when the question defined clearly both a proposed intervention and a relevant