AANA journal
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Michael L. Millenson's well-documented book, Demanding Medical Excellence: Doctors and Accountability in the Information Age, is a wake up call to both medicine and nursing for somewhat different reasons. Millenson decries the lack of scientific-based medical practice and medicine's failure to wake up due to its own historical studies. ⋯ Consumers of MEDLINE should be aware of this problem and be prepared to question the validity of research prior to adopting their conclusions. In the development of "best practices," flawed research may be as bad as personal biases and flawed memories. The potential adverse implications of flawed research for scientifically (evidenced) based practice and for health policy decisions by government and health payers with regard to the delivery of health services and its reimbursement requires that all involved do a better job of assuring that only valid, methodologically sound, and unbiased research is published, is included in the MEDLINE database, and is used in the care afforded to people in need.