‘Evidence-Based’ Practice (EBP) has become a catchword in recent years. To some, it identifies a series of centres charged with producing evidence reports and technology assessments to support guideline development by other groups. To others, it means the centralised production of guidelines and their integration into practice. These schools of thought share the assumption that the ordinary practitioner is best served by a centralised process, external to his / her practice and have been said to practice 'Top-Down' EBP (Glasziou P, CEBP Oxford; personal communication, 2004).

While centralised academic activity is important and the key to a good evidence base, there is another school of thought about EBP. To this group, EBP is "the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values". This approach has roots in the fields of clinical medicine, epidemiology and adult learning theory (problem-based learning). It is concerned with information, individualised problems, and the use of the Internet and modern informatics to get the best research evidence into practice. The underlying assumption is that the ordinary practitioner is best served by a de-centralised but exact approach, internal to his/her practice. Glasziou has named this school of thought 'Bottom-up' EBP. Centralised academic activity focuses on identifying the best research and making it readily available via the Internet.

In this site we apply the principles of 'Bottom-up' EBP to Radiology to assist the development of Evidence-Based Radiology (EBR). Our site logo highlights both the "i" within Radiology and the Internet connection to Radiology that make this approach possible. You do not have to be an academic radiologist to use this site. It is geared towards helping you answer clinical radiology questions arising in your practice. The EBR Overview link will lead you to further background information. The EBR Process link brings you through the problem-solving methodology. EBR in practice illustrates some ways to incorporate these concepts into the daily life of a Radiology Department.

We hope you enjoy using this site. If you have any comments, or notice any faulty links, please tell us about them using the 'feedback' link at the bottom of every page.