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Evidence-Based Medicine: Overview

What is evidence-based medicine?

EBM is the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values. (Sackett DL, Straus SE, Richardson WS, et al.Evidence-based medicine: how to practice and teach EBM. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 2000.).  Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) can also be referred to as Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) or Evidence-Based Research (EBR).

The steps in the EBM process should always begin and end with the patient.  It is a patient-centered care model and is typically initiated during clinical encounters with patients where questions about the effects of therapy, the utility of diagnostic tests, the prognosis of diseases, or the etiology (harm) of diseases arise.EBM Cycle: Ask a clinical question, acquire the evidence, appraise the evidence, apply it to clinical practice, assess your results, and disseminate the results to others.

Image source:  Ellis Medical Library

Scientific journal articles share a common anatomy, or structure.  Each part of an article serves a purpose, and if you know the purpose, you can become more efficient at reading and understanding articles.  Instead of reading from beginning to end, consult targeted sections according to the kind of information you need to learn at your stage of the writing process.  You will save time and find better sources because the search itself becomes easier.

Title and Author

  • Tells you what the article is about (topic, variables, population, etc.)
  • "The face" of the article
  • Identifies who did the work and where they work

Abstract

  • Summary of the article
  • "Takes the pulse" of the article so you can decide whether to read more
  • Always free, easy to find

Introduction

  • Provides background and context
  • Shows the "family tree" of knowledge about the paper topic
  • Poses research question
  • Justifies significance of study

Method

  • Provides step-by-step directions ("map" of the study)
  • Describes who was in the study (participants) and what they did (materials and procedures)

Results

  • What the study found (the "rabbit in the magic hat")
  • Usually includes statistics
  • Often incorporates tables and figures
  • Answers the research question

Discussion

  • Key study "takeaways" or conclusions
  • Interprets results
  • States strengths and limitations
  • Explores real-world implications
  • Identifies areas for future research

Tables and Figures

  • Visual representations of data ("charts and bars")
  • Often show demographic data and differences between groups
  • Summarize methods and results

Reference List

  • Identifies all sources cited in the text (the "DNA" of the knowledge in the paper) and helps you get them
  • Credits and acknowledges others' work so plagiarism is avoided

Source: American Psychological Association. (2023). Anatomy of a journal article. https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/anatomy-journal-article.pdf

A note about these types of studies:

  • Research may be one or the other, but an author may never use the words qualitative (behavior, feelings, etc.) or quantitative (counting, numbers, etc.) in the article, and
  • You may have to determine for yourself which type of study it is.

Check the links below for more comparisons:

Critical Appraisal Tools

Joanna Brigs Institute's critical appraisal tools assist in assessing the trustworthiness, relevance and results of published papers.

Evidence-Based Practice Step-by-Step

The following is a list of articles originally published in American Journal of Nursing as a series from the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation's Center for the Advancement of Evidence-Based Practice.