Although seeking an evidence base for medicine is as old as medicine
itself, in the past decade the concept of evidence-based medicine (EBM)
has strongly stimulated the application of the best available evidence from
clinical research into medical practice. At the same time, this process has
revealed the need for a more extensive and more valid evidence base as
input for EBM. Accordingly, investigators have been encouraged to
intensify the production and innovation of clinical knowledge, and clinical
research has become more successful in seeing its results implemented in
practice more completely in a shorter period.
