As a new discipline, the cardiac surgery has a great development in the modern age, but still faces many problems and disputes. The emergence of the evidence-based medicine(EBM),which emphasizes the best evidence, and combines the doctor’s clinical experience to make the best judgment, gives the development of the cardiac surgery a new thinking . Four systematic reviews published in The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2004) have interprated the importance of EBM on how to resolve the actual problems in different field of the cardiac surgery.
Chris Silagy is the Chair of The Cochrane Collaboration between 1996 and 1998, and the founder as well as the first Director of the Australasian Cochrane Centre. He helped to establish the Chinese Cochrane Centre. He has made great contributions to the establishment and development of The Cochrane Collaboration to which he devoted his whole life. Though he died at the early age of 41, his optimism, great energy and b responsibility have left deep impression and inspiration to every one around him.
Objective We searched the Cochrane Library（Issue 3, 2005 ）to identity evidence related to palliative treatment. We found that Opioids are effective for the palliation of breathlessness in terminal illness. Oral Morphine and hydromorphone is effective for cancer pain. Radiotherapy and Bisphosphonates can relief pain secondary to bone metastases. Corticosteroids can resolve malignant bowel obstruction in advanced gynaecological and gastrointestinal cancer.
In recent two decades, the incidence and severity of medical disputes have been dramatically increasing in China which has a negative influence for patients, doctors and hospitals. It must be seriously regarded that 80% of the medical disputes are caused by the bad attitude of health care professionals, ethical problems, and poor communication skill with patients. Chinese health care professionals should be aware of how to establish a good doctor-patient relationship. The development of evidence-based medicine (EBM) will help us bridge a gap between medical science and clinical practice, revise our opinions, update our knowledge and improve our service. Cooperation with the Chinese Evidence-Based Medicine Center (CEBMC), and the Chinese Medical Doctor Association (CMDA) will help doctors practice legally and in an evidence-based manner so as to protect both rights of patients and doctors.
Objective To study and analyze both merits and demerits of 4 famous foreign evidence-based medicine databases, so as to provide references for the development of Chinese evidence-based medicine databases. Methods By means of document analysis and web search, the databases including UpToDate, MD Consult, Clinical Evidence and DynaMed were comprehensively analyzed from the following aspects: management ideas, editing process, personalized services and so on. Results a) Time of foundation: UpToDate founded in 1992 is the earliest-established evidence-based medicine database; b) Management ideas: All 4 databases aim to integrate all the high quality evidences about some clinical topics and help doctors to make the most reasonable decisions at present; c) Editing process: The inclusive criteria of Clinical Evidence is more strict than other databases, for the evidence needs to go through 18 steps before it is included; and d) Update rate: DynaMed updates every day as the fastest than other databases. Conclusion A mature evidence-based medicine database needs a powerful methodology team, b financial support and a large number of literature services. Besides learning good foreign experiences, it is also very important to assemble a methodology team, and particularly to integrate domestic characteristics for the establishment of domestic evidence-based medicine database.
Objective To investigate the use of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and barriers to applying EBM in clinical practice in medical postgraduates. Methods Three hundred and sixty-five first and second-year medical postgraduates selecting the EBM courses were included. All the students were surveyed by questionnaires. Result The response rate to the survey was 100%. About half of the students read 1~5 professional articles per month before postgraduate study. Fifty-six percent of the students used professional literature and research findings when making clinical decisions. Fifty-seven point three percent used electronic databases to search for practice-relevant literature before postgraduate study. Sixty-one point four percent found it difficult to obtain relevant clinical guidelines and 68.5% never applied relevant clinical guidelines in clinical decision-making. The barriers to using EBM in clinical practice included difficulties in searching and accessing full text of potentially relevant articles, lack of EBM knowledge, influences from clinical experience and authorities, uncertainties about the quality of evidence and time-consuming. Conclusion EBM clinical practice and EBM medical education has transformed from dissemination and popularization stage to skill acquisition stage.
Objective To investigate the hot topics of research on evidence-based medicine in 2002. Method To search MEDLINE for papers on evidence-based medicine published in 2002, identify high-frequency subject headings related to research on evidence-based medicine, and cluster the high-frequency subject headings according to rates they appeared in common papers. Results 545 papers, 1 554 subject headings, 30 high-frequency subject headings on evidence-based medicine, and nine clustering categories of high-frequency subject headings were identified through search. Conclusions Both high-frequency subject headings and their clustering categories suggested that “evidence-based practice guidelines and their innovation”, “evidence-based health research and health policy”, “methodology on systematic reviews and randomized clinical trials”, “method of evidence-based decision making and its application in various subjects”, were the hot topics of evidence-based medicine. They provided useful references for Chinese medical professionals to practice evidence-based medicine.
This article briefly introduces the management of clinical trials of investigational new drugs, hospital-made preparations, post-marketing drugs and other types of clinical trials. The WHO International Clinical Trial Register Platform (WHO ICTRP), Chinese Clinical Trial Register (ChiCTR) and Chinese Clinical Trial Registration and Publishing Collaboration (ChiCTRPC) are also described. People conducting trials are advised to apply the basic philosophy of evidence-based medicine in their implementation, which is considered to be one of the guarantees of the validity of clinical trials.
Objective To summarize the available clinical research evidence on gliquidone for treating diabetes mellitus. Methods The clinical research on gliquidone for diabetes mellitus was systematically searched and appraised. Result Six randomized controlled trials and eleven controlled clinical trials were identified. The methodological quality of most papers about gliquidone for diabetes mellitus was poor. Currently, clinically patient-related endpoints as outcome measures and health economic analyses are lacking in this field. Conclusions Based on the available evidence, gliquidone appears specifically applicable to elderly diabetic patients with kidney diseases. More methodologically sound and patient-related endpoints and economic analyses based on clinical research are required.