Evidence-based family medicine

Abstract

Medicine is built on a foundation of scientific breakthrough, with constant change; a physician practicing for even a few years can appreciate this change. Incorporating the knowledge gained from research into clinical practice, however, is inherently difficult. Historically, it can take many years for medicine to adopt change [1]. This fact is not surprising, as research must be replicated and validated. Yet even validated clinical guidelines can take many years to be widely adopted. The number of clinical trials, clinical summaries, and clinical guidelines produced each year continues to increase [2], and physicians in any specialty can feel overwhelmed with the volume of information. Family physicians who care for the undifferentiated patient can feel that the task of analyzing information in the primary care literature and also multiple specialty areas is insurmountable.