The Virtues of Evidence
Abstract
Evidence-based medicine has been defined as the conscientious and judicious use of current best evidence in making clinical decisions. This paper will attempt to explicate the terms "conscientious" and "judicious" within the evidence-based medicine definition. It will be argued that "conscientious" and "judicious" represent virtue terms derived from virtue ethics and virtue epistemology. The identification of explicit virtue components in the definition and therefore conception of evidence-based medicine presents an important starting point in the connection between virtue theories and medicine itself. In addition, a unification of virtue theories and evidence-based medicine will illustrate the need for future research in order to combine the fields of virtue-based approaches and clinical practice.
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Decision-making research has shown that relevant data may be distorted and/or ignored while decision processing is occurring.
“However, decision-making research has shown that relevant data may be distorted and/or ignored while decision processing is occurring [24,42-44].”
From Rationality versus reality: the challenges of evidence-based decision making for health policy makers (2010) · cites this paper as [43]
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- Authors
- Zarkovich, E., & Upshur, R. E. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Upshur, R.E.G.
- ORCID
- Upshur, R.E.G.
- Venue
- Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics
- Published
- 2002-07
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 4-5
- Pages
- 403-412
- ISSN
- 0166-2031 (ISSN-L)
- 1386-7415
- 1573-1200
- OpenAlex
- W2145074607
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 5.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Metamedicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Sciences Research and Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Ethics and bioethics in healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Medicine, History, and Philosophy
- Keywords
- evidence-based medicine, virtue ethics, virtue epistemology, conscientiousness, clinical decision-making, medical ethics
- MeSH terms
- Canada, Humans, Evidence-Based Medicine, Ethical Theory, Virtues
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