Editorial
November 1, 1995

The well-built clinical question: a key to evidence-based decisions

Publication: ACP Journal Club
Volume 123, Number 3
Consider the following clinical situations:
A 19-year-old woman comes home from college with an acute maxillary sinusitis. You just heard about treating this with a shorter 3-day course of antibiotics rather than the usual 10 days of prescribed treatment. You wonder whether you should try the shorter course with this patient.
A 44-year-old woman with recently diagnosed ovarian cancer presents to the emergency room with dyspnea and inspiratory chest discomfort. The ventilation-perfusion scan is read as “indeterminate.” The emergency room doctor asks your advice “now that embolism has been ruled out.”
A 69-year-old retired teacher returns for follow-up of congestive …

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References

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Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group. Evidence-based medicine: a new approach to teaching the practice of medicine. JAMA. 1992;268:2420-5.
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Rosenberg W, Donald A. Evidence-based medicine: an approach to clinical problem-solving. BMJ. 1995;310:1122-6.
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Oxman AD, Sackett DL, Guyatt GH, for the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group. Users' guides to the medical literature: I. how to get started. JAMA. 1993;270:2093-5.
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Williams JW, Holleman DR, Samsa GP, Simel DL. Randomized controlled trial of 3 vs. 10 days of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole for acute maxillary sinusitis. JAMA. 1995;273:1015-21.
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The PIOPED Investigators. Value of ventilation/perfusion scan in acute pulmonary embolism: results of the Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis (PIOPED). JAMA. 1990; 263: 2753-9.
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Ho KK, Anderson KM, Kannel WB, Grossman W, Levy D. Survival after the onset of congestive heart failure in Framingham Heart Study subjects. Circulation. 1993;88:107-15.
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Ely JW, Burch RJ, Vinson DC. The information needs of family physicians: case-specific clinical questions. J Fam Pract. 1992;35:265-9.
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Covell DG, Uman GC, Manning PR. Information needs in office practice: are they being met? Ann Intern Med. 1985;103:96-9.
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Gorman PN, Helfand M. Information seeking in primary care: how physicians choose which clinical questions to pursue and which to leave unanswered. Med Decis Making. 1995;15:113-9.
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Osheroff JA, Forsythe DE, Buchanan BG, Bankowitz RA, Blumenfeld BH, Miller RA. Physicians' information needs: analysis of questions posed during clinical teaching. Ann Intern Med. 1991;114:576-81.

Information & Authors

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Published In

cover image ACP Journal Club
ACP Journal Club
Volume 123Number 3November 1, 1995
Pages: A12
Editors: W. Scott Richardson, MD, Mark C. Wilson, MD, MPH, Jim Nishikawa, MD, and Robert S.A. Hayward, MD, MPH

History

Published in issue: November 1, 1995
Published online: 9 March 2020

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