Monash Division of General Practice - Evidence Based Medicine

Monash Division of General Practice

EBM - Learn More

Teaching yourself more about evidence based medicine

Practising evidence based medicine involves using knowledge and skills which can be learnt via the internet. The skills required are principally those associated with searching for and critically appraising the evidence, while the knowledge comes from clinical epidemiology. There are multiple EBM sites on the internet which might help you acquire EBM skills; we have selected a few of the more comprehensive ones which might act as starting points for self-directed learning. In addition to knowledge and skills, further reading will help you understand more about ‘EBM thinking' as you move down the ‘road to EBM'.

These first two sites are comprehensive staring points for further EBM reading. The third is an on-line tutorial. Those listed in the other sections cover more specific topics.

The Centre for Clinical Effectiveness
The Centre is based at Monash Medical Centre and so has a local focus. It has a nicely catagorised resource list suitable for both beginners and experts. See the ‘EBM Learning Resources' section.
Centre for Health Evidence (University of Alberta, Canada)
This is also an excellent starting point for reading about EBM. Its first chapter ‘Evidence Based Medicine' nicely describes ‘EBM thinking'.

EBM tutorial or evidence based practitioners

Improving your searching skills

Searching databases is an art form which has turned into a science. It can be frustrating at times but is a skill which develops with practice. Three sites are worth mentioning.

Searching Medline: BMJ article

General principles
A very succinct summary of searching principles is available on the New Zealand site

Course on searching
Detailed step-by-step lessons.

How to appraise the evidence

Critical appraisal is also a skill which takes time and practice to learn. Both the BMJ and JAMA have published series of articles to assist their readers with appraising the literature.

The BMJ series
From the ‘GIMBI' site, Click on ‘How to read a paper' to get to the BMJ series. These are all easy to read articles by Trisha Greenhalgh about appraising the literature.

The JAMA series
This series is published in the Canadian ‘Centers for health evidence.net' at:

Other EBM resources

There are now a multitude of web-sites pertaining to EBM, as a quick browse of the net will reveal. The few listed below are thought to be of a high standard and comprehensive nature.

GIMBI
This is an Italian group which has a comprehensive list of EBM internet sites. This is a good starting point for further learning. Most of the items in their list have direct links.

Core library for evidence based practice
This is a site similar to GIMBI with a range of links to help self-learning in EBM.

Learning EBM without the internet

There are several books written on EBM. However access to up-to-date information is an essential part of evidence based practice, so books which teach about EBM and EBP often assume that the reader has access to CD-ROMs or the internet (or a medical library). The following is a selection which pertains to general practice and primary care in particular.

BOOKS

Sackett DL, Richardson WS, Rosenberg W, Haynes RB. Evidence Based Medicine. How to practice and teach EBM. (2nd edition) New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1999.
Silagy C, Haines A (eds). Evidence based Practice in Primary Care. London: BMJ, 1998.

BMJ CRITICAL APRAISAL SERIES

A series in the BMJ helps with critical appraisal. These would be available from the College or local medical library. They are all written by Trisha Greenhalgh.

The Medline database. BMJ 1997,315:180-183.
Getting your bearings (deciding what the paper is about). BMJ 1997;315:243-246.
Assessing the methodological quality of published papers. BMJ 1997;315:305-308.
Statistics for the non-statistician. 1: different types of data need different statistical tests. BMJ 1997;315:364-366.
Statistics for the non-statistician. 2: "significant" relations and their pitfalls. BMJ 1997;315:422-425
Papers that report drug trials. BMJ 1997;315:480-483.
Papers that report diagnostic or screening tests. BMJ 1997;315:540-543.
Papers that tell you what things cost (economic analyses). BMJ 1997;315: 596-599.
Papers that summarise other papers (systematic reviews and meta- analyses). BMJ. 1997; 315: 672-675.
Papers that go beyond numbers (qualitative research). BMJ. 1997; 315: 740-743.

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Home > Division Services > EBM - Learn more
Teaching yourself more about evidence based medicine Practising evidence based medicine involves using knowledge and skills which can be learnt via the internet. The skills required are principally those associated with searching for and critically appraising the evidence, while the knowledge comes from clinical epidemiology. There are multiple EBM sites on the internet which might help you acquire EBM skills; we have selected a few of the more comprehensive ones which might act as starting points for self-directed learning. In addition to knowledge and skills, further reading will help you understand more about ‘EBM thinking' as you move down the ‘road to EBM'. These first two sites are comprehensive staring points for further EBM reading. The third is an on-line tutorial. Those listed in the other sections cover more specific topics. The Centre for Clinical Effectiveness The Centre is based at Monash Medical Centre and so has a local focus. It has a nicely catagorised resource list suitable for both beginners and experts. See the ‘EBM Learning Resources' section. Centre for Health Evidence (University of Alberta, Canada) This is also an excellent starting point for reading about EBM. Its first chapter ‘Evidence Based Medicine' nicely describes ‘EBM thinking'. EBM tutorial or evidence based practitioners Improving your searching skills Searching databases is an art form which has turned into a science. It can be frustrating at times but is a skill which develops with practice. Three sites are worth mentioning. Searching Medline: BMJ article General principles A very succinct summary of searching principles is available on the New Zealand site Course on searching Detailed step-by-step lessons. How to appraise the evidence Critical appraisal is also a skill which takes time and practice to learn. Both the BMJ and JAMA have published series of articles to assist their readers with appraising the literature. The BMJ series From the ‘GIMBI' site, Click on ‘How to read a paper' to get to the BMJ series. These are all easy to read articles by Trisha Greenhalgh about appraising the literature. The JAMA series This series is published in the Canadian ‘Centers for health evidence.net' at: Other EBM resources There are now a multitude of web-sites pertaining to EBM, as a quick browse of the net will reveal. The few listed below are thought to be of a high standard and comprehensive nature. GIMBI This is an Italian group which has a comprehensive list of EBM internet sites. This is a good starting point for further learning. Most of the items in their list have direct links. Core library for evidence based practice This is a site similar to GIMBI with a range of links to help self-learning in EBM. Learning EBM without the internet There are several books written on EBM. However access to up-to-date information is an essential part of evidence based practice, so books which teach about EBM and EBP often assume that the reader has access to CD-ROMs or the internet (or a medical library). The following is a selection which pertains to general practice and primary care in particular. BOOKS Sackett DL, Richardson WS, Rosenberg W, Haynes RB. Evidence Based Medicine. How to practice and teach EBM. (2nd edition) New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1999. Silagy C, Haines A (eds). Evidence based Practice in Primary Care. London: BMJ, 1998. BMJ CRITICAL APRAISAL SERIES A series in the BMJ helps with critical appraisal. These would be available from the College or local medical library. They are all written by Trisha Greenhalgh. The Medline database. BMJ 1997,315:180-183. Getting your bearings (deciding what the paper is about). BMJ 1997;315:243-246. Assessing the methodological quality of published papers. BMJ 1997;315:305-308. Statistics for the non-statistician. 1: different types of data need different statistical tests. BMJ 1997;315:364-366. Statistics for the non-statistician. 2: "significant" relations and their pitfalls. BMJ 1997;315:422-425 Papers that report drug trials. BMJ 1997;315:480-483. Papers that report diagnostic or screening tests. BMJ 1997;315:540-543. Papers that tell you what things cost (economic analyses). BMJ 1997;315: 596-599. Papers that summarise other papers (systematic reviews and meta- analyses). BMJ. 1997; 315: 672-675. Papers that go beyond numbers (qualitative research). BMJ. 1997; 315: 740-743. Back to EBM Page


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