Evidence-Based Neonatology

I am waiting to board the flight from Stockholm to Philadelphia, to attend the 3rd Evidence-Based Neonatology (EBNEO) conference. Although being biased (as part of the organizing committee), I think the meeting will be great! You can follow the meeting on www.ebneo.org, on the hashtag #ebneo2015

And, I think the EBNEO Society, the principal organizer of the conference, has an important mission: to increase the knowledge about evidence-based neonatology, and how to apply its principals in neonatal medicine. That also includes understanding of the pitfalls, that "evidence" is not binary, and that we can and need to do much more research and development to further improve care.

I recently wrote a column about diagnostic testing in the Swedish Medical Journal (Swe. Läkartidningen).
http://lakartidningen.se/Opinion/Reflexion/2015/09/Simtur-i-diagnostikens-djupa-vatten/#comments

I got a comment in English implying that EBM is in conflict with the old-school notion of being a good doctor. That is not the case, def not in neonatal medicine where the caring for babies and families, from a humanistic point of view is central in our daily practise.

My point is not that EBM should replace the humanistic side of medicine. I believe that our caring for patients, from a humanistic perspective, operates on another scale than the issues of accuracy and efficacy of diagnostics and therapies. And, unless we learn to question those latter domains of medicine, we will be lurking around in the same muddy waters as during the 19th century, even if we are committed, empathic etc. In other words, we can still be good doctors and treat patients well, and at the same time develop our skills to offer patients things that work. And, those most educated patients, they are probably most easy to convince that "doing everything" is sometimes a waste of their time and resources.