Understanding the Medical Literature: A Primer on Evidence Based Medicine With the thousands of articles published monthly it is essential to know which articles have value and which articles need not be read. As more and more information is available it is imperative that podiatric physicians have the skills necessary to sift through these papers to determine which new therapies, tests and methods to integrated into clinical practice. This lecture presents a basic review of epidemiology and biostatistics as well as a practical method to review medical literature. It is suggested for use in resident journal clubs.