This article has been corrected. See Overview JAMAevidence is an instructional resource from the American Medical Association that is intended to teach the user about concepts fundamental to the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM), including study designs and “the validity, importance, and applicability of claims about the assessment of health problems and the outcomes of health care.” Content is updated on a monthly basis.
Texts JAMAevidence includes and focuses on two texts, Users' Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice, second edition, and The Rational Clinical Examination: Evidence-based Clinical Diagnosis. The medical literature guide provides an introduction to EBM using the popular JAMA Users' Guides article series, along with statistical and study design topics such as bias, intention to treat, confidence intervals, and discussion of interpreting and evaluating the literature and applying evidence in practice. The clinical examination guide addresses the probability, populations, findings, and standard tests for a number of common diagnoses, along with clinical scenarios that reinforce and illustrate the diagnostic process. Adult conditions predominate, but several pediatric conditions are described.
Additional resources “Education Guides” support the content from the two texts in the form of online slideshows and downloadable PowerPoint files, which subscribers are permitted to use for educational and personal use. The “Core Topics” section also utilizes the textbook content and supplementary tools to condense the process of EBM into five steps—assess, ask, acquire, appraise, and apply—with links to relevant chapters of the texts for each step. The “Calculators” section provides online tools that are useful for understanding frequently encountered statistical measures, such as 2×2 tables that allow users to calculate odds ratios, relative risk, and number needed to treat.
Some portions of JAMAevidence require users to complete a registration process and set up a personal profile. The “Learning Tools” section requires registration and provides worksheets and question wizards to help users think through clinical scenarios and evidence appraisal and to generate well-formed clinical questions. Users may annotate and save the worksheets into a personalized “My JAMAevidence” section of the site. Chapters of the texts can also be bookmarked for future reference in this section. Mobile access to JAMAevidence is also available after completing the user registration. The mobile view currently is optimized for the following smartphones: iPhone original and 3G, BlackBerry 8300 series and higher (default browser only), Google's Android platform, and Palm Treo.
Some JAMAevidence material is freely available without subscription or registration. Monthly podcasts address clinical topics, such as otitis media, as well as EBM topics and are available without a subscription. A Glossary (derived from the medical literature guide) is also provided and primarily consists of definitions of common research and statistical terms (e.g., absolute and relative risk) and includes definitions of some clinical terms.
JAMAevidence also includes a “Librarian Resource Center” <www.mhprofessional.com/lrc/jamaevidence/> with occasional alerts to new content and features, a usage statistic tool, MARC records for the two texts, and downloadable marketing materials.
In general, JAMAevidence may be useful to medical, nursing, and allied health students; housestaff; faculty; and others interested in learning or teaching about EBM and its practice. Librarians working in clinical or medical research settings may also benefit from this tool, particularly the content on appraisal of the medical literature and statistical and study design methods.