Clinically Speaking

Over the next few months, Dr. Jamie Meuser and Christine Papoushek will explore different perspectives on evidence-based medicine (EBM) in primary care - from its origins to what it may look like in the future. Don’t miss an episode, subscribe and join us as we explore some of the most pressing questions and issues facing EBM.

Dr. Gord Guyatt, one of the founders of the evidence-based medicine movement, provides an overview of the forces and factors that stimulated the birth of evidence-based medicine and have influenced its development.

Dr. Mike Allan, a family physician and academic from Alberta, heads an initiative that takes a very different approach to producing clinical guidance for decision making, specifically by targeting primary care practitioners at all stages of the process.

Keeping up with the evidence can be a daily struggle. We often turn to, and depend on, clinical practice guidelines for help make evidence-informed decisions. Dr. Jan Hux, President and CEO of Diabetes Canada, provides her insights on tackling one of the most difficult and complex areas of practice: diabetes.

We rely on evidence to help us make the best clinical decisions. What happens when the evidence we rely on isn’t so reliable? Dr. Elia Abi-Jaoude, a psychiatrist at SickKids Hospital in Toronto is one of a group of international clinicians and researchers that have taken on the task to re-review the accepted evidence that has gone into assumptions made in psychiatry. He shares examples of how evidence is used and sometimes misused in health care.

If we have doubts about the scientific studies that are at the core of clinical practice guidelines, how can we rely on them to support our clinical decision making? Dr. Nav Persaud has, since residency, consistently questioned the value of some evidence presented in clinical practice guidelines. He proposes ideas for how we could rationalize the process for determining the use, and place, of new treatments in the work that we do.

Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya, Associate Professor, Evaluation Lead for the Institute for Health Service Solutions and Virtual Care and Frigon Blau Chair in Family Medicine Research, both at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, draws on his personal experience as a guideline development panelist, family physician and information scientist, to offer his ideas on how we can leverage technology and individual patient experiences to bring EBM into the 21st century.