ICML Conference 2009: Keynote Speaker

Professor Chris Del Mar

Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine
Bond University

Biography: See Chris Del Mar's biography on the Bond University ePublications site

Presentation: Evidence-Based Medicine - is it working?

There is a considerable gap between what is known from research and what is done in practice. Part of the problem is not knowing and part is not doing. The "not knowing" arises from our information overload, e.g., over 1,500 studies and 55 randomised trials - are added to MEDLINE each day. The "not doing" can be broken down into several steps between valid research publishing and improved patients outcomes: awareness, acceptance, applicability, availability and ability, remembering at the appropriate time, getting patient agreement, and finally adherence to agreed treatments. At each step there is some "leakage". Addressing these leakages to navigating and using best (evidence-based) practice needs a multifaceted "solution". This will require sophisticated computerised evidence delivery systems at the point of care. However, to fuel these systems we need better (and continually updated) guidelines, syntheses, and systematic reviews of evidence. The "not doing" gap arise because of the limits of human memory, which we need to acknowledge.