Tuesday, August 29, 2006

What is the role of evidence in midwifery?

There have been over one hundred posts in the previous thread about herbs. None of them offered any evidence that herbs are effective for use in pregnancy. So that gets us back to the original question: What is the role of evidence in midwifery?

Should midwives, like other health professionals, restrict themselves to using substances and procedures for which there is evidence to show effectiveness? If there is no evidence of effectiveness, should they use anything that has not been shown to be harmful? What if the evidence suggests that a substance or procedure is actually harmful? Does harm have to be definitely proven, or is preliminary evidence enough to discontinue using a substance of procedure which may be harmful?

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