Strategies for promoting the development of evidence-based medicine in China

Background: Some important events have happened in clinical medicine outside China in recent years changing the field.

Event: A working meeting of the EBM network was held to promote the development of EBM in China. The delegates came from 15 EBM centres in universities or hospitals and some strategies and measures were discussed in the meeting.

Results: 1. Enhancing the transparency of clinical trials including clinical trial registration, standardization of reporting results, transparent clinical process, and establishing a reliable inner quality control system; 2. Promoting the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine including initiating the Chinese Network of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CNCAM), developing the Good Practices of TCM clinical guidelines and clinical pathways, and developing a grading system for TCM evidence; 3. Developing an independent entity of clinical research, training on methodology of clinical studies and conducting cooperative clinical trials to strengthen the capability of clinical study of the members of EBM network.

Conclusion: Transparency of clinical trials and the capability of clinical studies are the most important needs in the healthcare field both in the world and China. A consensus about developing EBM in China has been made among the participants of the Chinese EBM Working Meeting in December 2008.