Evidence Based Medicine Needs A Reality Check Dr. Suresh Shottam As doctors, we are generally encouraged to practice evidence-based medicine (EBM). To most doctors this means medicine which has been proven to be beneficial. Doctors who take this view however, may be shocked to learn just how little of conventional medical practice has been proven to be beneficial. As someone who has a solid foundation in physics and in research before getting into clinical practice, I am compelled to point out how blind faith in EBM leads doctors to become rigid, arrogant and narrow-minded in their views.
The end result is that true progress is held back and the patient is not optimally benefited. But first, what exactly is Evidence Based Medicine? Here is a definition of EBM offered by one of our colleagues in a recent Docplexus post: EBM is the application of the scientific method to medicine. This is…
