What are the challenges of contemporary evidence-based medicine?
Evidence-based medicine, which has revolutionized diagnostics and treatment, has encountered challenges related to access to patients and the ethics of treatment. Professor Natalia Pawlas, a specialist in toxicology, draws attention to the key role of evidence-based medicine in today's treatment of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, but also to the need to verify this methodology and develop it for the health of patients.
The concept of evidence-based medicine began to appear in the 1990s, and with it the issue of new diagnostic possibilities, analytical possibilities, also developing genetic and epigenetic research, as well as an attempt to organize this into good clinical practices and laboratory practices - emphasized in her statement Prof. Natalia Pawlas, head of the Toxicology Department at the Provincial Specialist Hospital named after St. Barbara in Sosnowiec.
- Research methodologies have emerged and have indeed caused, at least from what I recall, at least two major revolutions in terms of the approach to treating both heart failure and diabetes. And undoubtedly, these studies are currently conducted with very good care, so their results are reliable and focused on what is most important for humans, i.e. survival and morbidity of such important diseases as cardiovascular diseases - continued Prof. Natalia Pawlas.
According to Professor Natalia Pawlas, modern medicine has faced the need to prove its credibility and position. Why is this happening? More and more voices are emerging questioning the validity of evidence-based medicine. So what is the problem of modern medicine?
- The problem of medicine is often the lack of time, which is why we sometimes have a problem reaching patients, devoting enough time to them, which is exploited by people who want to undermine the authority of medical professionals. Therefore, as medical professionals, we should primarily take care of both good examination, good substantive preparation, conversation with the patient and having solid arguments based on evidence-based medicine to convince the patient to undergo treatment.
The most important challenges facing medicine, as indicated by Prof. Natalia Pawlas, are improving the quality of life of Poles. She emphasized that it is not about extending life, but about better efficiency and performance.
- It happens that the quality of life of patients, their exercise tolerance, tolerance of dyspnea is severely limited. On the other hand, the challenges facing medicine are also an ethical issue, which has already been raised in the code of medical ethics in force since the beginning of this year - emphasized Prof. Natalia Pawlas.
The professor also emphasized the importance of so-called futile therapy, i.e. medical treatment that does not bring the patient any health benefits and does not give him a chance to be cured . It is used in the case of terminally ill patients, but it can lead to excessive suffering or a violation of the patient's dignity.
- The issue of futile therapy is also important, because doctors who have the ability to artificially keep a patient alive by using mechanical ventilation or drugs that increase blood pressure sometimes start to conduct persistent therapy, and therefore it is certainly a matter of sanctioning this in a legal act higher than the code of medical ethics, which will allow doctors to breathe a little easier when we start fighting for a dignified death for a given patient, and not for artificially prolonging their life - added the professor.
Source: Provincial Specialist Hospital No. 5 named after St. Barbara in Sosnowiec Update: 24/02/2025 18:59
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