The shortage of health workforce in rural and remote areas has been commonly concerned by every country around the word. It is one of world health issues, challenging the aspirations of achieving equity. In this regard, WHO developed the Global Policy Recommendations to improve the accessibility of the health workforce in rural and remote areas through improved retention. This article focuses on the key steps of the policy guideline developed from evidence-based medicine methodology and from angle of guideline development, mainly about background, issues, evidence retrieval and selection, quality grading of evidence, and the forming of recommendation plan, in order to further explore how to correctly understand, obtain, evaluate and apply currently available research evidence, and how to use the GRADE system to make scientific and feasible recommendations in the decision-making process, emphasizing the importance of evidence and the GRADE system in the evidence-based health decision-making.
Objective To provide evidence for establ ishing a health care system for pregnant women after disasters by evidence-based evaluation on the comparison of programs in different countries of the world. Methods We electronically searched The Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2008), MEDLINE (1966 to June 2008), EMbase (1984 to June 2008), VIP ( 1989 to June 2008), CBM ( 1978 to June 2008), Wangfang database (1997 to June 2008), CNKI (1994 to June 2008) and handsearched Journals such as Chinese Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology to identify l iteratures and guidel ines on pregnant women healthy care system after calamity. The qual ity of l iteratures and guidel ines was assessed. Results A total of 293 studies were searched, of which 25 studies were identified with the focuses on the consequence of pregnancy, development of fetus and first-aid of injuries of pregnant women. We found the studies on pregnant women’s health care were l imited, and most of them were retrospective and cohort studies, which was related to the paroxysmal ity, rarity and complexity of the disaster.? Conclusions The high proportion of pregnant women among displaced persons underscores the importance of examining how behavioral changes and difficulties in access to health care influencing the maternal and infant health, which needs comprehensive planning and arrangement.
Objective To provide scientific evidence for the establishment of medical specialist system in China by investigating the history, current situation, problems and countermeasures of medical specialties training at home and aboard. Method The principle and theroy of evidence-based medicine were adopted. The information before Dec. 31, 2003 of Pubmed, CBM, official website, some journals, most frequently used search engines and medical monograph were systematically reviewed. Included literatures were assessed and graded according to the pre-defined criterias. Results A total of 1 319 studies (1 298 in English, 21 in Chinese) were included, among which only 6 were related to the classification of medical specialties. Based on the information from official website of USA, Canada, UK, Singapore, Australia and China (including HK and Taiwan), it showed that China has the largest number of medical specialties, followed by that of USA. In China, the number of medical specialties has more than that of the disciplines in clinical field, which was followed by resident training programs. Some specialties were duplicate, or not international standardized. Conclusions The classification of medical specialties should be developed consecutively, which comprehensively considered the international trend, characteristics of doctor training and the current situation. Specialties whose training program are well-established and developed should initiate firstly. Others will be put into practice gradually after being fully exprienced.
Objective To provide evidence for establishing medical specialist training system in China by evidence-based evaluation on the comparison of medical specialists training programs in different countries in Europe, America and Asia. Methods The principle and method of evidence-based science were adopted. Pubmed, official website (such as Ministry of Health, and medical board), homepages of famous medical universities or teaching hospitals and most frequently used search engines were systematically searched till Mar. 31, 2004. Included literatures were evaluated according to pre-defined standards. Results A total of 878 studies (827 in English, 51 in other languages) were included. The main contents covered clinical courses (43.3%), training quality assessment (13.5%) and existing problems (12.7%). Based on these and information from official website, the process of doctor training could be divided into three stages: residency training, specialist training and continuing medical education, with the characteristics of critical standards and strict examination in each stage. Training programs for neurosurgeon and family practitioner were analyzed. Conclusions Medical specialists training is a systematic project, which needs comprechensive planning and taking all factors (such as requirement of medical care market, diseaseburden) into account . To establishing a connterpart in China, priority should be given to training quality, feasibility and improvability. At the same time, we should change our mind, face the reality, and deal with problems during the interim.
Onehealth, an evidence-based decision-making software, is based on the United Nations' epidemiological reference modules to predict the effect of health services. Onehealth is a large database. The software is using activitybased costing, simulating investment costs of health system and changes of mortality in different coverage levels. By the cost of inputs/avoid deaths, it could quantify the cost of health services effectiveness and provide an intuitive basis for the rational allocation of health resources. This study introduces the relevant concepts, model structures and applications of Onehealth. We took the study of child nutrition interventions in Sudan for example and to present Onehealth tool's operating. As a new auxiliary and evidence-based decision-making software with scientific and rigorous theoretical approach, Onehealth has practical significance on the national or regional macro decision-making.
Evidence-based medicine advocates to support clinical decision-making with the best evidence, which is useful to objectively evaluate the clinical efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine and optimize clinical diagnosis and treatment. However, significant individualized characteristics identified from syndrome differentiation and treatment are incompatible with evidence-based clinical decision-making, which highlights population-level evidence, to some extent. In recent years, a number of new methods and technologies have been introduced into individualized clinical efficacy evaluation research of traditional Chinese medicine to assist managing and processing complex and multivariate information. These methods and technologies share similarities with evidence-based medicine, and are expected to link the clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine with evidence-based clinical decision-making. They will guide the development of evidence-based clinical decision-making in traditional Chinese medicine.