ABSTRACT
Evidence-based medical (EBM) may be described as a patient-centred cycle with three linked phases: the clinical phase, the search phase and the evidence review phase. Taken together, this becomes a framework for teaching, learning and curriculum delivery in the continuum of professional training. The exponential increase in scientific papers, and expansion of 'what is known' makes it almost impossible not to make clinical judgements without some reference to the evidence in the literature. It may be argued that the expansion of the literature has surpassed the capacity to maintain comprehensive review of all the information available. In addition to being at the heart of the ethos of care, the patient has a central role in medical education. The patient may be actual, or described as a theoretical case, or the two may be used in combination. Furthermore, endorsement by the World Federation of Medical Education and the World Health Organization secures it as an international characteristic of the medical profession.
