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| How easy is it to access the latest evidence about a particular condition? |
Evidence-based medicine is the new buzz-word, but much of
what we do in practice is not based on the high quality of evidence we might
assume or would like it to be.That can be for a range of reasons, including that there is very little evidence available. One of the challenges in practising
evidence-based medicine is access to all of the available evidence – which can
be extensive and time-consuming.
Increasingly, doctors have access to evidence-based
guidelines for the treatment of common conditions. This occurs in veterinary
medicine, to a lesser extent (conference programs have been dominated by EBM and EBVM for the past five years). Accessing guidelines can be challenging, although
publications such as the Journal ofFeline Medicine and Surgery have set a fantastic example with their ABCD
Guidelines series.
The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has
launched a new platform, VeterinaryEvidence, to distribute up-to-date evidence-based veterinary knowledge
designed for practitioners.
You can register for free online access to Veterinary Evidence here, contribute to the knowledge base by
becoming an author (there are extensive author guidelines available), or – if you
are an expert in the field – sign up as a reviewer. The journal has opened for submissions. The website can be found here. For a review of Evidence Based Medicine, check out our interview here.
