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Rapid response to:

Editorials

Evidence based medicine and the medical curriculum

BMJ 2008; 337 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a1253 (Published 24 September 2008) Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1253

Rapid Response:

Experience of evidence based medicine

There is no doubt that the teaching of evidence based medicine (EBM)
should be an integral part of the undergraduate and postgraduate
curriculum. Tomorrow's Doctors states "Graduates must know about and
understand the principles of treatment including... how to evaluate
effectiveness against evidence".(1) The article by Glasziou et al (2)
emphasises the importance of EBM within the curriculum but this may be
more widespread than the authors portray. Having (relatively) recently
graduated from Bristol medical school I feel we received thorough
grounding in EBM and critical appraisal. It is one of five key vertical
themes that run throughout the five year course,(3) and one of the core
components of the Foundation Programme Curriculum.(4) The difficulty comes
in regularly applying these skills in a clinical setting, and in my
experience this is due to lack of time not good intention. Should formal
time be set a side in the 48 hours each week doctors are given to develop
all their necessary skills? Probably not. But for those who wish to do it
in their own time, might I recommend the BestBETS website which was
developed in the Emergency Department of Manchester Royal Infirmary to
"provide rapid evidence-based answers to real-life clinical questions,
using a systematic approach to reviewing the literature".(5)

1. Tomorrow's Doctors GMC 2002

2. Glasziou P, Burls A, Gilbert R. Evidence based medicine and the
medical curriculum. BMJ 2008;337:704-705

3. MBChB Programme Handbook, University of Bristol 2008

4. The Foundation Progamme Curriculum 2007

5. http://www.bestbets.org/ Accessed 28/09/2009

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

28 September 2008
Simon R Thornton
AF2
Southmead Hospital, Bristol BS10 5NB