Objective: To develop a set of core contents for teaching evidence-based medicine (EBM).
Method: Description of basic principles from clinical epidemiology, medical statistics and literature search essential for health care practitioners to perform critical appraisal of the medical literature. Based on textbooks for EBM and clinical epidemiology and guided by the EBM courses at McMaster university and the Oxford Centre for EBM, core contents were defined. Decision on inclusion was made by consensus.
Results: The core contents for the Berlin curriculum in EBM covers 3 areas: 1. General information on the methods of experimental and observational clinical studies, principles of EMB, basic statistical concepts, and literature search. 2. Tools for critical appraisal of primary studies required for medical decision making: therapy, diagnosis, prognosis, and harm. 3. Evidence-based summary reports: meta-analysis and guidelines.
Conclusions: The contents of EBM can be precisely defined. They are transparent, explicit and communicable and present a reproducible basis for the different forms of teaching EBM.