Evidence-based surgery and the internet.

The preliminary version of the Evidence-Based Surgery (EBS) web pages was first released by the College Library in December 1998. In just four weeks there were over 1,600 recorded 'hits'. These draft pages were made known only to those surgeons and trainees participating on the various surgical e-mail discussion forums such as the Association of Surgeons in Training Mailing Lists. The popularity of the draft EBS pages and the encouraging feedback has rendered the on-going updating of the EBS pages a worthwhile activity.