Evidence-Based Medicine available for Turkish physicians

The guidelines for Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) were recently translated into Turkish and made accessible online to physicians. Described as "Google for doctors," the system includes newly discovered illnesses and clinical findings in medical literature. The free search engine covers more than 4,000 symptoms, medical subjects and case summaries along with 300 images and almost 100 video and voice records. The online guidelines allow physicians to easily follow rapidly advances in medicine and properly diagnose patients. Speaking to the Sabah newspaper, Health Improvement General Manager Ömer Tontuş of Turkey's Ministry of Health said physicians would access the necessary medical information through the directory, which introduces 50,000 pages of data in 300 special fields, with one click. To illustrate, physicians can differentiate measles and scarlet fever by examining the visual images entered into the directory, and the guidelines can display high-quality visual images necessary to determine and diagnose common and rare dermatological cases. It also allows physicians to access sound records of heart murmurs in children with detailed descriptions, for instance. The side effects of various drugs are also clearly presented. Tontuş underscored the guidelines have significant importance for family and primary care physicians.

The EBM guidelines were first introduced in 1987 for primary care physicians to provide up-to-date medical information and diagnose common diseases. Two years later, the first electronic version of the guidelines was launched, and it has since been updated regularly. All physicians can use the search engine free of charge. Presently, the system is regularly controlled by 300 specialist authors, 20 coordinators and experienced primary care physicians. Every two years, the guidelines are updated by authors and external advisors. Additionally, the editorial board reviews existing diagnostic and treatment methods with specialist physicians every month, and the search engine is actively used in the U.K. and Finland.