If you have ever wanted a pocket-sized guide to the essentials of practising evidence based medicine (asking a question, finding and appraising papers and then applying the evidence), look no further. This concise overview explains how to formulate an answerable question, including the PICO (Patient/Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes) methodology and outlines the main types of question you may have: Therapy, Prognosis, Diagnosis, Harm etc.

The section on finding the evidence looks at the levels and sources of evidence available, including bibliographic databases like Medline, systematic reviews in the Cochrane Library and secondary sources such as Best Evidence CD-ROM and Critically Appraised Topics (CATs). There is a very brief summary of developing and using a search strategy. The appraisal section has information on how to appraise diagnosis, therapy, harm and prognosis articles, along with systematic reviews.

Applying the evidence in practice is often missed out in EBM guides, but this book outlines some questions that help you to decide whether the patients in the research studies you find, are similar enough to apply the evidence to your own patient. Some useful healthcare resources on the web are included.

The Evidence-based Medicine Toolkit can be purchased online at the BMJ Bookshop.