Objective: Rapid access to the results of high quality research studies for real time use during clinical care is the aim of evidence-based medicine.
Methods: The current volume and methods of disseminating research findings are barriers to this goal. Electronic publishing, CD-ROMs for personal computers, and Internet-based databases and searching are tools helping to overcome these barriers.
Results: Several examples in the United Kingdom and United States employing these tools are described.
Conclusions: Technology is making traditional narrative reviews such as printed textbooks obsolete for the practice of evidence-based medicine.