New Features for the New Year: What They Are and How to Use Them

Keeping up to date with the most relevant high-quality medical information is an important challenge for family physicians. In addition to being a leading source of original research, The Journal of Family Practice has been an innovator in this area with Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters (POEMs). Each month the editors of the feature review more than 90 journals, identify the 8 most important POEMs, and then a team of skilled reviewers critically appraises them for our readers. More than 450 POEMs have been written to date, and they’ve become an important resource for evidence-based practice.

POEMs are a tool for foraging—the daily, weekly, and monthly task of reviewing new information from the medical literature and integrating it into practice. However, as pointed out in last month’s editorial by Steve Woolf, MD, MPH, POEMs are only part of the story. Each POEM is one skein in the larger tapestry that makes up a patient care decision.

In this issue of JFP we are launching 2 new features that help round out your medical information needs. “Applied Evidence” and “Clinical Inquiries” are now grouped with POEMs under the heading “Putting Evidence into Practice.” Applied Evidence, coordinated by Associate Editor Cheryl Flynn, MD, MS, is a monthly series of review articles aimed at clinicians. Each article will tackle the evaluation of a common clinical problem or treatment of a common condition in primary care practice. The authors of Applied Evidence reviews will be asked to focus on the best available evidence and organize it using a concise, structured, evidence-based format. This format is described in detail on our Web site, www.jfponline.com. We’ve also provided a glossary of evidence-based terms, a key to how we rate the quality of evidence, and a link to a free on-line course in Information Mastery on our Web site.

The topics for Applied Evidence reviews were developed after careful study of the most common problems facing family physicians in clinical practice. Our goal is to cover the breadth of family practice and to help family physicians provide the highest quality of care for their patients based on the best available evidence. Dr Flynn and I have written the first 2 reviews to get our series started. Authors interested in writing for this series are encouraged to contact Dr Flynn (flynnc@upstate.edu). We still welcome formal systematic reviews and meta-analyses that focus on a narrower clinical question and exhaustively review the literature. These will be published under “Original Research.”

The second new feature is Clinical Inquiries, edited by Bernard Ewigman, MD, MSPH, James Stevermer MD, MSPH, and Erik Lindbloom, MD, MSPH, of the University of Missouri. This is the first tangible product of the Family Practice Inquiries Network (FPIN). I am confident that FPIN will be an important source of high-quality medical information for primary care physicians in the years to come, and I am pleased that we are partners in this important effort. Each month we will answer real questions from family physicians in clinical practice using a concise, structured format. Each answer will include a brief review of the evidence focused on the highest-quality studies and systematic reviews, a summary of what others recommend, and a clinical commentary. If you are interested in writing for this feature, please contact Dr Lindbloom (LindbloomE@health.missouri.edu).

New times and new challenges call for new tools. POEMs, Applied Evidence, and Clinical Inquiries will give you the tools you need as a family physician to master your information needs and to continue to provide the highest possible quality of care to your patients.

Keeping up to date with the most relevant high-quality medical information is an important challenge for family physicians. In addition to being a leading source of original research, The Journal of Family Practice has been an innovator in this area with Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters (POEMs). Each month the editors of the feature review more than 90 journals, identify the 8 most important POEMs, and then a team of skilled reviewers critically appraises them for our readers. More than 450 POEMs have been written to date, and they’ve become an important resource for evidence-based practice.

POEMs are a tool for foraging—the daily, weekly, and monthly task of reviewing new information from the medical literature and integrating it into practice. However, as pointed out in last month’s editorial by Steve Woolf, MD, MPH, POEMs are only part of the story. Each POEM is one skein in the larger tapestry that makes up a patient care decision.

In this issue of JFP we are launching 2 new features that help round out your medical information needs. “Applied Evidence” and “Clinical Inquiries” are now grouped with POEMs under the heading “Putting Evidence into Practice.” Applied Evidence, coordinated by Associate Editor Cheryl Flynn, MD, MS, is a monthly series of review articles aimed at clinicians. Each article will tackle the evaluation of a common clinical problem or treatment of a common condition in primary care practice. The authors of Applied Evidence reviews will be asked to focus on the best available evidence and organize it using a concise, structured, evidence-based format. This format is described in detail on our Web site, www.jfponline.com. We’ve also provided a glossary of evidence-based terms, a key to how we rate the quality of evidence, and a link to a free on-line course in Information Mastery on our Web site.

The topics for Applied Evidence reviews were developed after careful study of the most common problems facing family physicians in clinical practice. Our goal is to cover the breadth of family practice and to help family physicians provide the highest quality of care for their patients based on the best available evidence. Dr Flynn and I have written the first 2 reviews to get our series started. Authors interested in writing for this series are encouraged to contact Dr Flynn (flynnc@upstate.edu). We still welcome formal systematic reviews and meta-analyses that focus on a narrower clinical question and exhaustively review the literature. These will be published under “Original Research.”

The second new feature is Clinical Inquiries, edited by Bernard Ewigman, MD, MSPH, James Stevermer MD, MSPH, and Erik Lindbloom, MD, MSPH, of the University of Missouri. This is the first tangible product of the Family Practice Inquiries Network (FPIN). I am confident that FPIN will be an important source of high-quality medical information for primary care physicians in the years to come, and I am pleased that we are partners in this important effort. Each month we will answer real questions from family physicians in clinical practice using a concise, structured format. Each answer will include a brief review of the evidence focused on the highest-quality studies and systematic reviews, a summary of what others recommend, and a clinical commentary. If you are interested in writing for this feature, please contact Dr Lindbloom (LindbloomE@health.missouri.edu).

New times and new challenges call for new tools. POEMs, Applied Evidence, and Clinical Inquiries will give you the tools you need as a family physician to master your information needs and to continue to provide the highest possible quality of care to your patients.

Keeping up to date with the most relevant high-quality medical information is an important challenge for family physicians. In addition to being a leading source of original research, The Journal of Family Practice has been an innovator in this area with Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters (POEMs). Each month the editors of the feature review more than 90 journals, identify the 8 most important POEMs, and then a team of skilled reviewers critically appraises them for our readers. More than 450 POEMs have been written to date, and they’ve become an important resource for evidence-based practice.

POEMs are a tool for foraging—the daily, weekly, and monthly task of reviewing new information from the medical literature and integrating it into practice. However, as pointed out in last month’s editorial by Steve Woolf, MD, MPH, POEMs are only part of the story. Each POEM is one skein in the larger tapestry that makes up a patient care decision.

In this issue of JFP we are launching 2 new features that help round out your medical information needs. “Applied Evidence” and “Clinical Inquiries” are now grouped with POEMs under the heading “Putting Evidence into Practice.” Applied Evidence, coordinated by Associate Editor Cheryl Flynn, MD, MS, is a monthly series of review articles aimed at clinicians. Each article will tackle the evaluation of a common clinical problem or treatment of a common condition in primary care practice. The authors of Applied Evidence reviews will be asked to focus on the best available evidence and organize it using a concise, structured, evidence-based format. This format is described in detail on our Web site, www.jfponline.com. We’ve also provided a glossary of evidence-based terms, a key to how we rate the quality of evidence, and a link to a free on-line course in Information Mastery on our Web site.

The topics for Applied Evidence reviews were developed after careful study of the most common problems facing family physicians in clinical practice. Our goal is to cover the breadth of family practice and to help family physicians provide the highest quality of care for their patients based on the best available evidence. Dr Flynn and I have written the first 2 reviews to get our series started. Authors interested in writing for this series are encouraged to contact Dr Flynn (flynnc@upstate.edu). We still welcome formal systematic reviews and meta-analyses that focus on a narrower clinical question and exhaustively review the literature. These will be published under “Original Research.”

The second new feature is Clinical Inquiries, edited by Bernard Ewigman, MD, MSPH, James Stevermer MD, MSPH, and Erik Lindbloom, MD, MSPH, of the University of Missouri. This is the first tangible product of the Family Practice Inquiries Network (FPIN). I am confident that FPIN will be an important source of high-quality medical information for primary care physicians in the years to come, and I am pleased that we are partners in this important effort. Each month we will answer real questions from family physicians in clinical practice using a concise, structured format. Each answer will include a brief review of the evidence focused on the highest-quality studies and systematic reviews, a summary of what others recommend, and a clinical commentary. If you are interested in writing for this feature, please contact Dr Lindbloom (LindbloomE@health.missouri.edu).

New times and new challenges call for new tools. POEMs, Applied Evidence, and Clinical Inquiries will give you the tools you need as a family physician to master your information needs and to continue to provide the highest possible quality of care to your patients.