![]() ![]() Two studies showed that enemas made more of a mess, and women felt embarrassed by the enema. When doctors studied the results from the research they found there was no evidence that enemas prevented infections. Some hospitals gave soapy enemas, which were painful for women. But doctors thought that enemas would reduce the risk of infection for the woman and her baby. Fifty years ago, women were often given an enema while they were in labour.Also, there have been many practises in medicine that were later found to be useless or even harmful when studies were done. For example, just because a cancer drug worked for them, that doesn't mean it will work for you. It can be dangerous to rely on what your neighbours or friends tell you. Why evidence from research is so importantĪll evidence is not alike. Sometimes the evidence can't tell you which treatment is best for you, so it's important that you weigh up the benefits and harms of treatments carefully.When researchers look at whether a treatment works, they look at many more patients than a single doctor will ever treat. ![]() Evidence-based medicine looks at all the research that there is about a disease or treatment.When doctors look at the research before recommending a treatment, they are using evidence-based medicine.Some evidence is better than other evidence. This is called practising evidence-based medicine. Only by looking at all the evidence and judging it fairly can you work out what the research really says about a treatment. And what doctors used to think was the best thing to do, even a few years ago, might actually be considered harmful today. ![]() Also, medical knowledge changes all the time. When researchers study a disease or a condition, they usually look at many more patients than any one doctor will ever treat. This is because what doctors think is best for a patient is not always what the research shows is best. We now know that this is not the best way to practise medicine. They often decided how to treat patients using only their own judgement and experience and what they learned at medical school. In the past, doctors didn't always have access to the latest medical research. ![]()
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