PubMed · 9429544
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P L Cerrato. 1997. Electromagnetic therapy: valid or voodoo?. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9429544/
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Evidence-based medicine is a new approach to improve the transfer process of knowledge from research to medical practice. The assumption that only results of randomized controlled studies are evident is true for many but by far not for all clinical problems. As is demonstrated from one historical and many recent examples, there exists another but equally stringent method of proof which is based on an implicit historical comparison. This kind of evidence still has to be defined exactly in order to protect it from misuse by alternative medicine. The statement that only 20% of methods used in conventional medicine are [corrected] evidence-based cannot be substantiated. Methods and importance of meta-analyses are critically discussed as well as the meaning of the term publication bias. The new documentation- and information techniques will improve some steps in the transfer process. At the end it will be crucial whether the last step, the improvement of rationality in patient care, will be successful. This evidence still has to be demonstrated.
BACKGROUND: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is being embraced by an increasing number of practitioners and advocates of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). A significant constituency within CAM, however, appears to have substantive doubts about EBM and some are expressly hostile. DISCUSSION: Many of the arguments raised against EBM within the CAM community are based on a caricature radically at odds with established, accepted and published principles of EBM practice. Contrary to what has sometimes been argued, EBM is not cookbook medicine that ignores individual needs. Neither does EBM mandate that only proven therapies should be used. Before EBM, decisions on health care tended to be based on tradition, power and influence. Such modes usually act to the disadvantage of marginal groups. CONCLUSION: By placing CAM on an equal footing with conventional medicine - what matters for both is evidence of effectiveness - EBM provides an opportunity for CAM to find an appropriate and just place in health care.