Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Barriers to Practice Regarding Evidence Based Medicine among Doctors in National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Evidence based medicine (EBM) helps physicians to provide patients with the best possible clinical care through systemically reviewing, critically appraising, and using findings of the clinical research. The essence of EBM lies in its ability to bridge the gap among scientific knowledge and clinical practice, fostering a patient-centered approach that ensures informed decision-making and improved health outcomes. Objective: This study aims to assess EBM knowledge, attitude, and barriers to practice among doctors in National Liver Institute (NLI), Menoufia University, Egypt. Subjects and Methods: This is a cross sectional questionnaire-based study, included 150 medical staff personnel from different specialties in National Liver Institute. Data were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics. Chi-square test, Fischer's exact test and logistic regression model were used to study factors affecting knowledge scores among the studied medical staff participants. Results: About one third of the studied participants (37.3%) attended previous evidence based medicine training. About one third of the participants (36.7%) had good knowledge. Regarding attitude toward EBM, majority of the participants (91.3%) had positive attitude. The most prevalent obstacles that the participants in this study agreed upon, were lack of time (62%), lack of clinic facilities (64.7%) and patient preferences (71.4%) and beliefs (69.3%). Conclusions: Variations in EBM knowledge and attitudes among healthcare professionals underscore the need for a strict understanding of individual, educational, and contextual factors that shape the adoption of evidence-based approaches.