A facility-based cross sectional study was carried out among 188 doctors working at the Kasturba Medical College in Mangalore, India, to assess the perception and practice of evidence based medicine (EBM) among medical professionals. Data was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire and results obtained were expressed in percentages. Results: The mean age of participants was 35 ± 8.33 years. A higher proportion of participants (n=182, 96.8%) referred to textbooks for information for clinical decision making. A majority of the participants (n=180, 95.8%) opined that evidence based medicine should be included in a medical curriculum. More than half of the participants (n=98, 52.1%) used PubMed. A majority (n=150, 79.8%) of the participants had a good level of self-rated confidence in evaluating research, while 55.3% (n=104) of the participants had a good level of self-rated confidence in their ability to conduct clinical appraisals. Lack of time and insufficient EBM skills were the major perceived barriers to practicing evidence based medicine. Conclusion: Positive attitudes and higher awareness regarding EBM among doctors in the present study compared to other reported literature is an encouraging finding. Medical regulators must utilize the best available evidence and experience in formulating policy on medical education and health care.
In the world of evidence-based medicine, the need for research cannot be overstated. While the helm of such research if being conducted by trained scientists in secluded labs, one often forgets that these scientists were students too at one point in time. If their interest was not honed then, we might still be fighting polio today. Thus with this editorial we hope to usher more students into research at the undergraduate level.
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