Editor
Dr Ahmad Risk 

HIE Library Archive 1998/9  

Evidence people get chatting: ebm-wisdom

WISDOM

Announcing a new International e-mail discussion group FROM EVIDENCE TO PRACTICE?

Primary care physicians are encouraged to make their clinical practice evidence-based': to use the findings of research to inform their daily management of patients' presenting problems and treatment.

But what counts as `evidence'? And what is involved in turning the findings of a research study into practical decisions? How important is the context of primary care for determining which `evidence' issued and which discarded as inappropriate. Is research conducted in one country appropriate for other parts of the world?

This new discussion group, part of the WISDOM project on information management and informatics in primary care will take a long hard look at these issues. Participants from around the world will be invited to address critically how primary care can move from evidence to daily practice.

It will challenge the `sacred cows' of evidence-based medicine, for instance, questioning the applicability of the randomised controlled trial to primary care settings.

To join, send an e-mail to n.j.fox@sheffield.ac.uk with no subject and the message line: join ebm-wisdom your e-mail address

WISDOM is a project funded by the United Kingdom Department of Health to support information management and informatics for primary care professionals.