In USA Today, Steve Sternberg covers a study which found that guidelines used to treat cardiac patients are often not based on conclusive research.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that the use of evidence-based medicine has improved patient care,” says Sidney Smith of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, an author of the study and an expert on medical guidelines. “The trouble is, we need more evidence.”
The study’s authors, Sternberg said, advocate a strong scientific basis for every health-care decision. The American Heart Association, he reports, is starting a “Get with the Guidelines” program to encourage evidence-based treatment.
“Doctors say the study highlights a disturbing lack of scientific evidence underlying complex treatment questions, including how much aspirin to prescribe for heart attack prevention, how best to treat heart valve disease and when to choose angioplasty over bypass surgery.
Research shows that patients do best when doctors follow guidelines based on scientific evidence. This push for evidence-based medicine has come to define a new era in medical care, one in which doctors and hospitals are judged on their performance — and their grade depends partly on how true they are to medical guidelines.”
