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How Primary Care Providers Might Review Evidence on Hydration

Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University (K.M.K.), Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University (D.G.W.), Greenville, North Carolina State University, Cooperative Extension Service (C.J.L.), Raleigh, North Carolina

Address correspondence to: Kathryn Kolasa PhD, 4N70 Brody, East Carolina University, Greenville NC 27834. E-mail: kolasaka{at}ecu.edu

Primary care providers (PCPs) are increasing their use of evidence-based medicine (EBM) in the care they give patients. They evaluate the available evidence to determine if it applies to their patients and seek to complement their clinical experience with EBM to improve patient outcomes. In evidence-based practices, patient oriented data are valued more highly than disease oriented evidence. More than 8 million biomedical articles are published annually, but only an estimated 2% of those are relevant to improved patient outcomes (POEMs - patient oriented evidence that matters). This paper describes some of the tools used by PCPs to search for evidence and the decision-making process used to determine if they will change their practice. Understanding how PCPs evaluate research findings and other evidence can help hydration researchers frame their research questions and study reports.

Key words: evidence-based medicine (EBM), information mastery, patient oriented evidence that matters (POEMS)