ABSTRACT

Physicians have always explored new ways of making more accurate diagnoses and better drug prescriptions. Since the mid-nineteenth century, evidence-based medicine has supported healthcare decisions by combining the physician’s expertise and judgment with the best clinical evidence from scientifi c research pertinent to a patient’s health (Sackett 1997 ). With such an approach, physicians can obtain more precise diagnoses centered on their patients’ personal characteristics. This practice is thought to lead to the discovery of more effi cient prognosis markers and to the development of safe and effi cient therapeutics.