More About BEEM

BEEM was born from a very straightforward issue that every emergency physician must face as part of being in practice. We are all expected to be able to keep our existing knowledge base up to date with the latest scientific data, but that can be an overwhelming process in and of itself. In a world of information overload, it can be hard to separate the high quality information from that of lesser quality without spending a lot of time doing so. We all accumulate pile of journals and journal articles we plan to "get around to reading" but often can't find the time. How does one ensure they keep up with the best evidence based practice information available without making it a full time job?

That's where we come in.

The BEEM Investigator Group is a collaboration of practicing academic emergency physicians from across North America brought together by their common interest in advancing the cause of evidence based clinical principles and their application in daily practice. From the formulation of the right clinical questions to finding the evidence to critical appraisal and knowledge translation, BEEM endeavours to showcase the the best available high quality scientific literature as well as give practicing emergency physicians the tools they need to find the information they seek as efficiently as possible.

The BEEM course

The BEEM course is our accredited continuing medical education (CME) program for all emergency physicians with an interest in being up-to-date on the most recent emergency medicine-related studies and how to appraise the evidence behind the results.

Our group of reviewers have combed hundreds of high-impact journals on a monthly basis to identify the papers which are most relevant to emergency medicine practice. Their clinical relevance is rated in realtime by a team of clinical emergency medicine practice who work in varied academic and community-based settings. Those who float to the top undergo expert critical appraisal by leading evidence based emergency medicine academics, and the best of the best are packaged into a fun and informative CME program available to you.

Not only do you get the best literature with the highest potential impact on your practice, but you also benefit from our expertise in teaching the principles of evidence based medicine. Beyond RCTs and systematic reviews, the BEEM course also covers updates of validated clinical decision rules, the advances and limitations of commonly used diagnostic tests and physical examination techniques, as well as providing valuable tips and strategies for doing your own online search for the best evidence with which to answer your inevitable practice-generated questions.

McMaster University

McMaster University based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is the undisputed home of Evidence-Based Medicine. The explicit methodologies used to determine "best evidence" as we know them today were largely established by the McMaster University research group lead by David Sackett and Gordon Guyatt. The term "evidence based medicine" first appeared in the medical literature in 1992 in a paper by Guyatt et al. The BEEM Investigator Group maintains strong ties to the McMaster University Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, as well as participation in the annual McMaster hosted Evidence Based Clinical Practice teaching programme.

Future directions

The work of the BEEM investigator group extends beyond the CME course. We're currently working on publication of our evidence based critical appraisals, ongoing academic discussion in major journals of evidence based principles, as well as looking into methods of electronically based methods of knowledge translation and information dissemination to make the best evidence available to the greatest number of people. Faculty members are also active in their own research, as well as participation within larger bodies such as the Evidence Based Medicine interest group of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Through these and many other projects, we hope to help advance the specialty of emergency medicine for the benefit of all.

Contact Us

For more information about the BEEM course and the BEEM Investigator Group, please feel free to contact us.