US Pharm. 2009;34(10):HS14-HS18. The National Library of
Medicine (NLM) introduced the term evidence-based medicine (EBM)
as a medical subject heading to PubMed in 1997.1 It is defined
as: “An approach of practicing medicine with the goal to improve
and evaluate patient care. It requires the judicious integration
of best research evidence with the patient’s values to make
decisions about medical care. This method is to help physicians
make proper diagnosis, devise best testing plan, choose best
treatment and methods of disease prevention, as well as develop
guidelines for large groups of patients with the same disease.”
This definition originated from a 2006 issue of the Journal of
the American Medical Association (JAMA).1 The evidence is
retrieved from the published medical literature, and it is
ranked according to the study design or type of paper.
Pharmacists should be well versed in EBM, so they may answer
clinical questions with accuracy. EBM also allows the pharmacist
to better scrutinize physician orde