The philosophy of evidence-based medicine / Jeremy Howick ; foreword by Paul Glasziou.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Howick, Jeremy.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evidence-based medicine.

Medicine--Philosophy.

Medicine.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (245 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chichester, West Sussex, UK : Wiley-Blackwell, BMJ Books, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has become a required element of clinical practice, but it is critical for the healthcare community to understand the ongoing controversy surrounding EBM. Seeking to address questions raised by critics, The Philosophy of Evidence-based Medicine challenges the over dependency of EBM on randomized controlled trials. This book also explores EBM methodology and its relationship with other approaches used in medicine.

Contents:

The Philosophy of Evidence-Based Medicine; Contents; Acknowledgments; Foreword; Preface; Part I: Introduction; 1 The philosophy of evidence-based medicine; 1.1 What on earth was medicine based on before evidence-based medicine?; 1.2 Scope of the book; 1.3 How the claims of EBM will be examined; 1.4 Structure of what is to come; 2 What is EBM?; 2.1 EBM as a self-proclaimed Kuhnian paradigm; 2.2 The motivation for the birth of EBM: a sketch; 2.3 Original definition of EBM; 2.4 Reaction to criticism of the EBM system of evidence: more subtle, more or less the same

3 What is good evidence for a clinical decision?3.1 Introduction; 3.2 Evidence for clinical effectiveness; 3.3 Strong evidence tells us what?; Part II: Do randomization, double masking, and placebo controls rule out more confounding factors than their alternatives?; 4 Ruling out plausible rival hypotheses and confounding factors: a method; 5 Resolving the paradox of effectiveness: when do observational studies offer the same degree of evidential support as randomized trials?; 5.1 The paradox of effectiveness; 5.2 Observational studies: definition and problems

5.3 Randomized trials to the rescue5.4 Defending the EBM view that randomized trials provide better evidence than observational studies; 5.5 Overcoming the paradox of effectiveness; 5.6 Conclusion: a more subtle way to distinguish between high- and low-quality comparative clinical studies; Appendix 1: types of restricted randomization; Appendix 2: Worrall's arguments that randomization is required for classical hypothesis testing and establishing probabilistic causes; 6 Questioning double blinding as a universal methodological virtue of clinical trials: resolving the Philip's paradox

6.1 The problems with double masking as a requirement for clinical trial validity6.2 The many faces of double masking: clarifying the terminology; 6.3 Confounders that arise from participant and caregiver knowledge; 6.4 The importance of successful double masking; 6.5 One (and a half) solutions to the Philip's paradox; 6.6 The full solution to the Philip's paradox: challenging the view that double masking rules out confounding factors when treatments are evidently...; 6.7 Double masking is valuable unless the treatment effects are evidently dramatic, hence the Philip's paradox does not arise

7 Placebo controls: problematic and misleading baseline measures of effectiveness7.1 The need to control the placebo; 7.2 Legitimate placebo controls; 7.3 How placebo controls often violate the first condition for legitimacy; 7.4 How placebo controls often violate the second condition for legitimacy; 7.5 Special problem for constructing placebos for complex treatments: case studies of exercise and acupuncture; 7.6 Summary and solution to the problem with illegitimate placebo controls; 8 Questioning the methodological superiority of ""placebo"" over ""active"" controlled trials

8.1 Epistemological foundations of the ethical debate over the use of placebo-controlled trials

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613407528

9781444342666

1444342665

9781283407526

1283407523

9781444342659

1444342657

9781444342673

1444342673

OCLC:

716208689