Since its introduction in JAMA in 1993, the article series has become the standard for understanding and using the medical literature in daily practice. This series of 25 articles clarifies the principles of evidence-based medicine, and provides clear and practical guides for accessing and evaluating articles published in the medical literature. Users' Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice is not only a compilation of the users' guides from the JAMA series; it also modifies, expands, and updates the original articles.

Rennie's insightful analogy in the foreword of the book states that the medical literature is “clearly visible but utterly inaccessible”, a message that serves as an honest appraisal of the difficulties faced by clinicians who are attempting to go beyond “experience-based medicine”. Exponential growth …