Technology assessment is not a new phenomenon in medicine. The most able and conscientious physicians have always sought to understand the effects of the interventions they apply.1 With the development of clinical research, attempts to establish safety and efficacy became more systematic and scientific, culminating in the crown jewel of traditional technology assessment, the randomized clinical trial.
(September 6, 1990)
New England Journal of Medicine
1990
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199009063231011