Evidence-Based Medicine

Whether you are seeking treatment for yourself (or someone else you love), you want to make sure that the everything that can be done is being done. We see conflicting reports on the news about studies being done, and wonder if our overworked physicians are keeping up to date.

What types of questions do you ask your care team? Are you getting the right mediciation to help you/your loved one?

Everyone of us is different, which means that how our body will respond to treatments may also be different. But, we all want to make sure that the best available information on treatment and care is being used by the health provider for our benefit. 

We are all in search of Evidence Based Medicine whether or not we know it.  This type of medicine uses the best evidence in making decisions for the care of individual patients, involving everything from diagnosis to treatment.

We have developed a series of Evidence Based Medicine resources to help patients receive treatment that is right for them. These tools help to find a balance between scientific evidence, patient values and the experience of the health care provider.

Evidence Based Medicine for Patients: This guide uses easy to understand language to explain how science is used to provide information on medical treatment and care. It also gives practical suggestions on how help you talk with your health care provider so that you can help make sure that the best knowledge from research is being used to direct your treatment.

Download in: English or French.

Evidence Based Medicine for Youth: This quick overview guide (just two pages) is a condensed version of our Evidence Based Medicine For Patients Guide. Providing you with some information about how to know if what you are reading about makes sense and questions you should prepare to discuss with your health care provider. Download in English.

Communicating With Your Health Care Provider --What Every Parent Should Ask: This short PDF provides the most important questions to ask when speaking with your child's physician. Download in English.

One of the most important things to be aware of is to always ask questions when you read something in the newspaper or watch it on the news.

In this CTV National News Interview, Dr. Kutcher explains that statistics need to be placed in context.