COVID-19 and the Future of Evidence-Based Medicine

COVID-19 exacerbated the global need for reliable healthcare information while shrinking the timeline for creating it due to unparalleled urgency. In response, many health care publications have modified their editorial processes to help disseminate findings as quickly as possible. The result has been the release of a dizzying volume of research since the start of the pandemic, but there have been shortcomings.

Out of necessity, the pandemic has led to the expanded availability of findings in the early stages of research, often causing confusion for the public and healthcare professionals. Synthesizing the available evidence rigorously in a format that is transparent and usable by frontline health care providers is challenging, but such information is a requirement for health care systems trying to deliver state-of-the-art care.