Covid‐19: Exposing the Lack of Evidence‐Based Practice in Medicine. Issue 3 (29th June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Reisman, Jonathan; Wexler, Anna
• Is Part Of: Hastings Center report. Volume 50:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 77
• Page End: 78
• Publication Date: 2020-06-29
• Subjects: Covid‐19 -- evidence‐based medicine -- prenatal care -- telemedicine -- health policy; Medical ethics -- Periodicals; Bioethics -- Periodicals; 174.205
• DOI: 10.1002/hast.1144
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0093-0334

Abstract

Abstract: The Covid‐19 pandemic has altered the shape of medicine, making in‐person interactions risky for both patients and health care workers. Now, before scheduling in‐person appointments or procedures, physicians are forced to reconsider if they are truly necessary. The pandemic has thus thrown into relief the difference between evidence‐based medical care and traditional aspects of care that lack a strong evidentiary component. In this essay, we demonstrate how this has played out in prenatal care, as well as in other aspects of medical care, during the pandemic. The extent to which these changes will persist beyond the most emergent phases of the pandemic is not clear, though insurance reimbursement practices and patient expectations will be determining factors. One thing, however, is certain: the longer the pandemic continues, the more difficult it will be for providers and patients to return to pre‐Covid norms .