Hi Hilda
You asked about evidence on "the effects of EBM systems", but then the following discussions went on to talk about evidence on EBM. This sideways slip in language is important because:
1) EBM is more a set of principles and aspirations than a thing you can see and touch.
2) EBM systems are the results of translating those principles and aspirations into practice.
How does this affect your question about evidence on EBM?
If you focus on the evidence bit of EBM (as some comments seem to have done), that evidence is itself the evidence on benefits, burdens, or whatever. So you don't actually need to ask the question (unless you enjoy infinitely tight recursion).
If you focus on the principles and aspirations of EBM, how you would look for evidence on them? Maybe qualitative research on questions such as "Is this what we want to do?". But for me, the principles and aspirations of EBM are like the provervial motherhood and applepie, so I wouldn't dare to doubt them (although there may be better or worse ways of setting them out in words).
But, if you focus on "EBM systems", you can then start asking useful researchable questions about particular systems, e.g. RQ1 "What is the evidence on the impact of NICE's guidance on health outcomes, care processes, drug prices, ...?", or RQ" "Are Cochrane systematic reviews more reliable than non-Cochrane systematic reviews?"
Michael
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