Orthopaedic Information Mastery: Applying Evidence-Based Information Tools to Improve Patient Outcomes While Saving Orthopaedists' Time*

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it. -Herbert Simon, Nobel Laureate Economist, 1971 Knowledge is power. -Sir Francis Bacon, 1597 Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. -Sir Francis Bacon Medical information that is relevant to orthopaedic surgeons is continuously expanding and changing, while older information is expiring24,25. The speed at which new information is generated and disseminated challenges us to adopt new strategies for acquiring useful knowledge and leaving unusable information aside. Reading faster or spending more time reading does not ensure that one is gaining more relevant orthopaedic knowledge. In addition to the challenge of processing ever-increasing amounts of orthopaedic information, there exists the timeless problem of discriminating "the truth" from that which is "not-truth" (incorrect or not clinically useful). The ability to sift through large amounts of written material to uncover a few useful truths that will improve one's practice is a skill that busy orthopaedists and current residents should learn19,21. We live in an electronic information age in which patients often have more citations at their command than do practitioners15,16. Our present dilemma is that a large quantity of information is quickly available, yet more and faster information services have not translated into better care for patients15,20,21. The management or application of information related to orthopaedic care, combined with the skill of treating musculoskeletal disease, is what will set the orthopaedic surgeon apart from the educated lay public and from physicians who are …