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Evidence Based Practice and Latest Treatments

Introduction

A microscope

A range of information and resources are available regarding latest treatments and evidence based practice. The development and maintenance of these resources is costly and time consuming. It can also be time consuming for health professionals to search for specific information or resources. This area of the hub aims to bring together key resources in one place for easy access and identification of potential gaps.

David Goldstein



"The Cancer Learning Hub is an opportunity to easily access and search for updated information and key resources regarding latest treatments and evidence based practice".
Associate Professor David Goldstein, Past President, Clinical Oncological Society of Australia (COSA)

What is Evidence-based Medicine?

Evidence-based medicine is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research. 1.

Levels of Evidence

Once the evidence has been found, it has to be critically appraised and its validity and usefulness determined 2. The following levels of evidence have been established to assist in this process. While a Level 1 Randomised controlled trial is seen as the 'gold standard' of evidence it is important not to discount other levels, including opinions based on clinical experience:

  1. Evidence obtained from at least one properly designed randomised controlled trial.
    1. Randomised controlled trial is seen as the 'gold standard' of evidence it is important not to discount other levels, including opinions based on clinical experience:
    2. Evidence obtained from well designed controlled trials without randomisation.
    3. Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case-controlled analytic studies, preferably from more than one centre or research group.
    4. Evidence obtained from multiple time series with or without the intervention.
  3. Opinions of respected authorities, based on clinical experience, descriptive studies, or reports of expert committees.


1. Sackett DL, Rosenberg WMC, Muir Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS (1996), "Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't", BMJ 312:71-72 (13 January).http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/312/7023/71
2. Straus SE, Sackett DL (1998), "Using research findings in clinical practice". BMJ 317(7154):339-342. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/317/7154/339