Evidence-based family planning: the paradigm for the third millennium.
Evidence-based medicine applies clinical epidemiology to the care of the individual patient. In contrast, autocratic or authoritarian medicine rests largely on expert opinion and clinical tradition. The need for evidence-based medicine in family planning practice is acute, as counselling for intrauterine devices and tubal sterilization attests. Two international evidence-based guidelines in family planning, both published in 1996, represent a major advance in clinical practice. In addition, the Cochrane Collaboration, a global effort to identify and synthesize randomized controlled trials in medicine, now includes topics on fertility regulation. Evidence-based clinical guidelines and Cochrane systematic reviews are valuable tools for family planning practice. The use of evidence-based medicine will improve clinical care today, and, more importantly, in the millennium which is just beginning.
Family Health International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA.
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Grimes
D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic