Evidence-based medicine in dermatology

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the use of the best current evidence in ma king decisions about the care of individual patients. Practicing EBM requir es five steps: formulating well built clinical questions, finding the best evidence to answer the questions, critically appraising the evidence, apply ing the evidence to specific patients, and saving the critically appraised evidence. The quality (strength) of evidence is based on a hierarchy of evi dence: results of systematic reviews of well-designed clinical studies, res ults of large case series, and expert opinion. Once the best evidence has b een found, the EBM approach involves critically appraising the quality of t he evidence, determining its magnitude and precision, and applying it to th e specific patient. Guidelines to critically appraise and apply evidence ar e available.