The Trouble With Evidence-Based Medicine, the ‘Brand’

It seems as though it’s not enough to just advocate for an improvement to medical practice. People want to entirely “re-brand” medicine instead. As though one facet of practice can define the whole. In the case of evidence-based medicine — “EBM” — the claim of the brand has always been a bit overblown.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m enthusiastic about evidence, and think strong evidence is invaluable for medicine. But the EBM movement and brand – that’s more complicated.

Social movements can be valuable. Like-minded people establishing organizations and forming loose communities can really spread ideas and influence. I always seem to be in one or another. There are risks, though, even when the core idea is beneficial. Movements develop self-interests. It’s hard to keep them from drifting into collision with the public interest. The EBM movement hasn’t avoided that. continua a leggere

Articolo di Hilda Bastian su MedPageToday