The integration of evidence with clinical expertise and patient values which underpins the delivery of high quality evidence-based medicine.
Hard though this often is to achieve in practice, one fundamental principle is that evidence integrated into decision making should be the “current best evidence.” Whilst the amount of research, funded and published, has grown enormously, there is little to suggest concomitant increases in outputs that have led to real improvements in patient care. Equally worrying, the growth and volume of evidence has been accompanied by a corrosion in the quality of evidence, which has compromised medicine’s ability to provide affordable, effective, high value care.
