Modern clinical research: Guidelines for the practicing clinician or source of confusion?

There is a dilemma in modern medicine, and, as a general family practitioner, this dilemma has great impact on me as a professional with a responsibility to my patients, and on the treatments I prescribe. Every day we receive a lot of updated information about relevant issues in treatment of various conditions we encounter in our daily practice.There is a great deal of interesting, serious research; however, frequently results and conclusions are very different and at times, contradictory. It is extremely difficult to evaluate updated research information, and to understand trends in current medicine. Our responsibility to our patients is to find a solution for this problem.