Robert D. Lamberton,
leads the classics department in Arts & Sciences
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Robert D. Lamberton, leads the classics department in Arts & Sciences |
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Evidence-based medicine available online
By Anne Enright Shepherd Clinical faculty members, medical students and residents at the University now have access to a new online resource of medical information. The University has licensed evidence-based medicine guidelines and care-management tools from EBM Solutions. The practice of evidence-based medicine is the careful integration of current clinical research and the health-care provider's experience with their patients' understanding and personal values. EBM Solutions is a Web-based information resource that offers guidelines and interactive care-management tools on more than 85 key clinical conditions and medical disorders, from asthma to weight loss, each available in versions for patients and physicians. The Internet platform was created both to counter the proliferating number of Web sites with unverifiable or inaccurate medical information and to reduce unwanted variation in patterns of current clinical practice. "Our goal was to produce a body of information and practical health and disease-management tools that both patients and their health-care providers can consider a gold standard," said Daniel C. Silverman, M.D., the School of Medicine's director of evidence-based medicine solutions. "What sets the content of EBM Solutions apart is that all of the treatment guides are written by experts in the specific condition, they are peer-reviewed, and all screening and treatment recommendations are graded for both the strength of the scientific evidence that supports them and for their potential risk and benefits for our patients." Silverman represents the School of Medicine on a consortium of academic medical centers -- including Duke, Emory, Vanderbilt and Oregon Health Sciences universities and Mount Sinai/New York University -- that oversees development of all evidence-based guidelines and care-management tools. The medical school not only provides contracted services but also holds founders' shares of stock in the enterprise. Physician experts from the University have contributed guidelines for breast cancer, stroke, pneumonia, sickle-cell disease, major depressive disorder and several other chronic diseases. Access to the new resource is available through the Bernard Becker Medical Library. "We are interested in offering EBM Solutions to our faculty because it complements our other evidence-based medicine resources," said Paul A. Schoening, associate dean for academic information management and director of the medical library. "Our mission is to ensure that our physicians have the information resources available to assist them in providing world-class care to their patients." For more information or to register for free access, go to ebmsolutions.wustl.edu or call Becker Library's reference desk at 362-7085. Faculty members interested in serving as contracted peer reviewers for new guidelines should contact Silverman at 362-6711. |
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