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EDITORIALS: Sharon Sanders and Chris Del Mar Clever searching for evidence BMJ 2005; 330: 1162-1163 [Full text]

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Best, What Does It Really Mean

Ned Hoke   (20 May 2005)

Medical Librarians--- an answer

Sheila E. Moran, Medical   (2 June 2005)

Best, What Does It Really Mean 20 May 2005
Ned Hoke, private ecological medicine calif, USA Send response to journal: Re: Best, What Does It Really Mean	Evidence-based medicine is certainly an intriguing promise. In one passage clinical orientations can come to scrutiny and neutral fields of discussion. Structural orderings of process can and are designed built upon this theme. Next comes the idea of "best"and all that entails, hopes for. It begins and ends discussions efficiently amidst wildly hopeful imaginings. This article offers a necessary functional shaping to such strategic inquiry. It empowers the literature and makes more secure the patient..the best is being done. In reality live alot of other things, useful things, unincluded in these programs. I hope the promise of best doesn't choose to forget that..or else there really is no best at all..just a successful propaganda. Competing interests: None declared
Medical Librarians--- an answer 2 June 2005
Sheila E. Moran, Medical Librarian Massachusetts General Hospital Treadwell Library 55 Fruit Street Boston, MA 02114, Medical Send response to journal: Re: Medical Librarians--- an answer	I agree totally that clinicians have problems with obtaining information they seek from major databases and probably the specialized ones such as Cochrane. It is not only clinicians, however, who expect appropriate material to arise out of the databases within mere seconds. This applies to most disciplines. Expert searching or mediated literature searching is available for clinicians in most hospitals here in the U.S. via medical librarians. We have the expertise to pull out that small proportion of appropriate evidence based literature out of all databases. I was disappointed that this was not mentioned. I would be interested in knowing why these medical librarian services were not mentioned in Sharon Sanders editorial. Competing interests: None declared