Evidence is the highest level of truth regarding medical therapies. Evidence will enable you to see how many patients got a specific therapy and how many of these patients had a good or bad outcome. Using evidence from research studies is like entering a virtual waiting room of patients just like yourself, and asking, “What happened after undergoing your unique treatments?”
Physicians rely on medical evidence and the interpretation of medical studies and literature to make the most informed treatment decisions on behalf of their Patients.
The Basics of Evidence
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Medical evidence
is a form of expert evidence.
Medical evidence can take many forms. It can include a doctor's clinical notes or records, and the forms a doctor completes and sends to WorkSafeBC on a regular basis.[1]
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Evidence Based Medicine (EBM)
According to definition Evidence Based Medicine represents integration of clinical expertise, patient’s values and best available evidence in process of decision making related to patients health care.[2]
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Real-world Evidence
is the clinical evidence regarding the usage and potential benefits or risks of a medical product derived from analysis of RWD. RWE can be generated by different study designs or analyses, including but not limited to, randomized trials, including large simple trials, pragmatic trials, and observational studies (prospective and/or retrospective). Real-world evidence makes use of data from populations that are better representative of real practice than those studied in clinical trials. Real-world evidence can help validate results observed in clinical trials or fill in knowledge gaps when trial data is lacking.
During the last decade, concept of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) caused great interest among health professionals. Medical knowledge grows every day, so that previously accepted facts rapidly become old and it seems impossible to follow such explosion of scientific information. There are clear difficulties when clinician needs to keep step with the new achievements published in medical journals: for example, general practitioner should read 19 articles every day (1), and we know that many of them have only one hour per week for this.[2]
On average, physicians spend less than two minutes seeking an answer to a medical question.
The two most common sources physicians turn to are:
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Fellow physicians, pharmacists and other individuals; and
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Drug references and textbooks.[3]
One of the greatest achievements of evidence-based medicine has been the development of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, methods by which researchers identify multiple studies on a topic, separate the best ones and then critically analyze them to come up with a summary of the best available evidence.
The key difference between evidence-based medicine and traditional medicine is not that EBM considers the evidence while the latter does not. Both take evidence into account; however, EBM demands better evidence than has traditionally been used.
In Summary, What Is Medical Evidence, EBM and RWE?
Medical Evidence is everything that is used to reveal and determine the truth. Medical Evidence comprises medical knowledge, from clinical trials and published research to reveal the truth about medical conditions and the safest and most effective treatments. Medical Evidence is the highest level of truth regarding medical therapies. Medical Evidence will enable Physicians to see how many patients got a specific therapy and how many of these patients had a good or bad outcome.
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Enable specialists and/or generalists to use evidence to determine the most effective and safest therapy for any specific patient population.
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Use evidence to get coverage on recommended therapies or treatments
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Stay up-to-date on all published clinical studies
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Determine if practice management guidelines are valid and relevant
Even the FDA has weighed in on the topic recently stating "Real-world data (RWD) and Real-World Evidence (RWE) are playing an increasing role in health care decisions."[5] Using Medical evidence from research studies and published research is like entering a virtual waiting room of Patients just like yourself, and asking, “What happened after undergoing your unique treatments?” We look for evidence when we buy HDTVs, cars, computers, homes and stocks. Why not apply the same type of research and review to choose a medical therapy?
Sources
1. https://www.wcat.bc.ca/appeals/preparing/medical_evidence.html
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3789163/
3 http://www.aafp.org/fpm/2004/0200/p51.html
4. https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/medical-school-admissions-doctor/2012/08/27/medical-students-should-consider-evidence-based-medicine
5. https://www.fda.gov/science-research/science-and-research-special-topics/real-world-evidence