Medical Education and Evidence-Based Medicine

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) dominates the current era of medical research and practice. The concept of EBM has now traveled beyond its original context into the field of medical education. This entry describes key historical developments in the construction of EBM, alongside a critical analysis of its strengths and limitations. The transferability of EBM principles into medical education is considered alongside problems which EBM could address within education and problems which its use created. An outline of different research ontologies and epistemologies is used to contextualize further discussion of evidence and theories of knowledge within medical education before turning to the classification of education evidence. This entry concludes with an overview of current emphases in research and theory before considering future directions for the use of “evidence” in medical education. Illustrative examples are used throughout. Here is link to complete paper