"Tips from Other Journals" are written by the medical editors of American Family Physician.

The POEMs section is coordinated by Mark H. Ebell, M.D., M.S., AFP's deputy editor for evidence-based medicine. Dr. Ebell is a founding member of InfoPOEM, Inc., an independent commercial entity.

These POEMs are from InfoRetriever, part of the InfoPOEMs Clinical Awareness System, copyright InfoPOEM, Inc. The complete list of topics is available to InfoPOEMs subscribers at http://www.InfoPOEMs.com.

POEM stands for Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters. POEMs meet three criteria: they address common questions that physicians face; they measure outcomes that physicians and patients care about (e.g., symptoms, morbidity, quality of life, and mortality); and they have the potential to change practice. See page 2912 for expanded definition.