From science to everyday clinical practice. Need for systematic evaluationof research findings

This paper focuses on problems attached to using scientific results in ever yday clinical practice. Based on examples we raise the question: Are resear ch results obtained under ideal scientific conditions, presented to health professionals and the public in a way that creates unrealistic expectations of the health services? We suggest that the clinical researcher, when repo rting scientific results, should be obliged to consider technological aspec ts, i.e. the human and monetary cost, effectiveness, compliance, the expect ed consequence for the patient, professionals and society, and resources ne eded to accomplish it. Presented with these considerations, actors of the h ealth care scene in terms of professionals, administrators, politicians and patients should be better suited to decide if implementation of a new trea tment should take place. Such procedures Hill give the population and the p oliticians more realistic expectations of the contributions of medical scie nce and the health services in general.