Essential EBM for the Practicing Clinician

The Evidence Based Medicine database at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center is designed to provide rapid access to clinically important trials likely to be of use in the practice of medicine. It also serves as the core of the EBM elective open to residents in the internal medicine residency training program at DHMC and students at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

Studies that are summarized have high quality and level of evidence (e.g. randomized control trial, meta-analysis, systematic review) and have been formatted to allow rapid retrieval. No summary can substitute for a careful exploration of the literature but presenting clinically relevant studies in this format may provide useful information in a timely manner. Although the medical literature is vast, certain studies have or should inform the everyday practice of medicine, and we are in the process of building an "Essential EBM for the Practicing Clinician". Suggestions for studies that should be included in the database are encouraged, and new submissions are welcome. The database provides direct links to the original articles for further reading.

Keywords:
CER		control event rate
EER		experimental event rate
RRR / RRI		relative risk reduction / increase
95% CI		confidence interval (the true value is likely to reside in this interval with 95% certainty)
NNT		number needed to treat (1/absolute risk reduction)