BMJ 2002;324:674 ( 16 March )

Letters

Why general practitioners do not implement evidence

    Evidence seems to change frequently
    Learning environments must be created that capitalise on teams' wealth of knowledge

Evidence seems to change frequently

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---Freeman and Sweeney's study on why general practitioners do not implement evidence seems to share the underlying assumption of so much that is written on this subject---that evidence is clear cut, and the only problem is getting practitioners to put it into practice.1 My perception of evidence, however, is that it is often slippery---at best frequently changing and at worst contradictory and confusing---and that best evidence is often not very good. Part of the problem is therefore deciding exactly what to put into practice.

The findings and interpretation of individual papers, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and reviews of systematic reviews and meta-analyses are regularly debated in the BMJ. Anticoagulation was one of the clinical areas discussed by the participants in Freeman and Sweeney's study, but stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation is controversial. How many general practitioners who have read the papers on atrial fibrillation in . . . [Full text of this article]
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Relevant Article

Why general practitioners do not implement evidence: qualitative study
A C Freeman and K Sweeney
BMJ 2001 323: 1100. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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  • Haynes, R B., Devereaux, P J, Guyatt, G. H (2002). Physicians' and patients' choices in evidence based practice. BMJ 324: 1350-1350 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

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You have a choice, dear patient
Dilip DaCruz
bmj.com, 16 Mar 2002 [Full text]
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