Document Detail


Narrative evidence and evidence-based medicine.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20367872     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
I argue that evidence-based medicine (EBM) imposes methodological limits that constrain the practice and study of medicine in unfortunate ways. EBM attempts to rid the study of medicine of the subjectivity of individual judgements, while in fact, any use of any kind of evidence requires judgement. On this basis, I argue that there are compelling reasons to broaden the range of evidence employed in EBM, and in particular, to include both straightforward and evaluative narratives. This would mark a shift from the current focus of EBM on purely quantitative data to the inclusion of qualitative data as well. I conclude by emphasizing that objectivity in medicine must come not from the exclusion of wide swaths of potentially valuable evidence, but from the careful application of our critical practices.
Authors:
Cheryl J Misak
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of evaluation in clinical practice     Volume:  16     ISSN:  1365-2753     ISO Abbreviation:  J Eval Clin Pract     Publication Date:  2010 Apr 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-04-06     Completed Date:  2010-07-29     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9609066     Medline TA:  J Eval Clin Pract     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  392-7     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. cheryl.misak@utoronto.ca
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Evidence-Based Medicine*
Humans
Judgment*
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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