Evidence-based medicine: Can it really be of use to general practitioners?

Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) has swooped in from across the Atlantic and landed firmly on the doorsteps of general practice. Much has been written about the appropriateness (or otherwise) of this discipline in primary care in the UK. General practitioners deal with personal and contextual as well as biomedical perspectives ('the triple diagnosis') but published evidence is largely biomedical within the secondary care setting. GPs are also said to have limited access to search facilities or not to have the expertise to evaluate evidence for themselves. However, the research agenda is now heavily promoted within general practice and the clinical application of EBM is seen as 'good practice'. But is it also practical? As a working clinician, when I came across a problematic case one day, I decided to put EBM to the test.