Is Evidence Based Medicine Dead? Exploring the Evolution of a Philosophical Paradigm

Is Evidence Based Medicine Dead? Exploring the Evolution of a Philosophical Paradigm (Evidence Based Healthcare & Implementation and Research Directors Interest Group Sponsored)

Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) emerged 30 years ago as a graduate medical education approach to align healthcare delivery with patient’s unique priorities, contemporary research evidence, and clinician expertise. Emergency Medicine (EM) academic thought-leaders embraced this paradigm by creating workshops to train the trainers and EBM series across multiple journals, as well as a Consensus Conference on Knowledge Translation. Whereas a past objective of EBM advocates was to instill a minimum competency for emergency medicine physicians to find, critically appraise, and assimilate practice-worthy research into bedside care in conjunction with patient preferences and clinician expertise, historical EBM leaders now suggest that a minimum competency level is unattainable, and the goal should shift to finding trustworthy secondary peer-review sources. The goal of the session is to explore the evolution of EBM and EM adaptations to adjust to new expectations and situational realities for teaching and applying EBM. This session will review the roots of EBM, research exploring program directors’ EBM expectations for residents and faculty, challenges adhering to the concepts of EBM, and hurdles associated with a shift away from primary critical appraisal skills towards secondary peer-reviewed sources. The last part of the session will be an interactive question and answer session in which attendees may ask the panel to share their expertise in such areas as adapting EBM teaching methods.

Presenters:
Christopher R. Carpenter, MD, MSc
Lars K. Beattie, MS, MD
Bryan G. Kane, Professor of Medicine, USF MCOM
Ken Milne, MD
Peter Wyer, MD