A systematic review and meta-analysis of postoperative use of NSAIDs and risk of anastomotic leak

The term "evidence-based medicine" was first coined by Sackett and colleagues as "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients." The key to practising evidence-based medicine is applying the best current knowledge to decisions in individual patients. Medical knowledge is continually and rapidly expanding. For clinicians to practise evidence-based medicine, they must have the skills to read and interpret the medical literature so that they can determine the validity, reliability, credibility and utility of individual articles. These skills are known as critical appraisal skills, and they require some knowledge of biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, decision analysis and economics, and clinical knowledge.