Thursday, October 25 
7:00 – 8:30 a.m. (ticket)
John S. March, M.D., M.P.H. 

This breakfast provides attendees a “how-to-do-it” introduction to the use of the evidence-based medicine (EBM) “toolbox” in understanding how and when to combine treatments. Over the past decade and a half it has become increasingly clear that both drugs and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are effective treatments for most mental disorders in children. In some instances, the combination of CBT plus medication seems to offer the best option for the average patient. However, average patients are rare and the sharp clinician needs to know how to access the research literature and understand how to apply this knowledge to the care of the patient while factoring in both doctor and patient/family preferences. Using examples drawn from the treatment of pediatric mood, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorders, Dr. March introduces the EBM “toolbox” for understanding how to generate a good question, access the research literature, and how to discern whether the research article is valid, meaningful, and applicable to a particular patient. Most of the breakfast is spent on understanding how to use the EBM approach to answer questions about combining treatments that are generated by participants. While not essential, entry-level EBM skills as applied to treatment will be helpful.