Evidence Based Clinical Practice: Asking Focused Questions (PICO)
T raining health care providers in the United States was modeled on the apprenticeship system for hundreds of years. In 1910, Abraham Flexner helped take an important step towards evidence based practice when he authored a landmark study of the state of physician training practices in the United States. The Flexner Report exposed deficiencies in the quality and practices of current medical training. This report called for the elimination of many medical training programs and fundamental revisions to the system of medical education in the United States. A key recommendation from this report was a requirement to 'Train physicians to practice in a scientific manner and engage medical faculty in research. By 1930, the number of training programs was reduced from 160 to 97Vwhen 71 programs either closed or merged with existing university based programs. Another key recommendation of this report was a proposal to establish clinical professorships, recognizing the valuable role that clinical educators serve spanning the classroom and the clinic. The Flexner report firmly established an important principle necessary to advance medical educationVa basis on scientific evidence. Nevertheless, that alone was not sufficient.
Optometry and vision science official publication of the American Academy of Optometry