M. Etminan et al., EVIDENCE-BASED PHARMACOTHERAPY - REVIEW OF BASIC CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS IN CLINICAL-PRACTICE, The Annals of pharmacotherapy, 32(11), 1998, pp. 1193-1200
OBJECTIVE: TO introduce concepts that may assist pharmacists in the us
e and application of scientific evidence in clinical practice. These c
oncepts are followed by examples of clinical trials as well as case sc
enarios that guide the reader through solving clinical problems using
the tools discussed in the article. BACKGROUND: The introduction of ev
idence-based practice in the 1990s has had a positive impact on the pr
actices of medicine and pharmacy. Part of this impact has been in the
area of drug therapy. Although much literature has been published on t
he principles of evidence-based practice in the past few years, most o
f this material was intended for practicing physicians. We are not awa
re of any articles on the use of the evidence-based principles intende
d for clinical pharmacists. We are also aware that discussing all of t
hese principles is an enormous task and thus beyond the scope of this
article. Therefore, we focused this discussion on a brief summary of d
ifferent study designs, factors affecting the strength of scientific e
vidence, and interpretation of the data. An approach in the use of the
se concepts is discussed through the use of case scenarios. RECOMMENDA
TIONS: Clinical pharmacists must use concepts in evidence-based practi
ce when making pharmacotherapeutic decisions.