Sorry for the dearth of blogging as of late. I’ve been hard at work on my most recent web project, and we’re announcing it first on The Central Line!

It’s called The NNT, and it’s a great resource for both academic and community physicians alike. We’ve essentially tried to find the best evidence (frequently, but not always Cochrane Systematic Reviews) out there for a bunch of different interventions (mostly emergency medicine ones), and come up with a simple summary of how well (or how poorly) they work. We wanted the site to be an easily-accessible, one-stop shop for evidence and data on interventions we already know about. A couple examples:

• Systemic Steroids for Asthma Attacks work great. Give them to 8 asthmatics, and you’ll prevent one hospital admission.
• Did you know there’s really no good data supporting giving Proton Pump Inhibitors for Upper GI Bleeds? They maaaybe reduce how much patients get transfused by a half unit of blood, but have no effect on patient-important outcomes, like death, need for surgery, or re-bleeding.
• And glycoprotein IIb-IIIa inhibitors still haven’t shown a benefit, but they definitely increase major bleeding.

We hope the site encourages a lot of discussion — and maybe a little controversy — among you, your colleagues, your consultants, and your residents and medical students. We welcome your feedback and suggestions, and if you’re interested in writing a review, send us a message!