The place and barriers of evidence based practice: knowledge and perceptions of medical, nursing and allied health practitioners in malaysia

Abstract

BackgroundDespite a recent increase in activities to promote evidence-based practice (EBP), it was unclear how Malaysian hospital practitioners received this new approach in medicine. This study examines their confidence and perceptions on EBP.FindingsWe conducted cross-sectional surveys using a self-administered questionnaire during two EBP training courses in two Malaysian hospitals in January and June 2007. Our subjects (n = 144) were doctors and nursing and allied health staff (NAH) participating in the EBP courses. Our questionnaire covered three domains: confidence and understanding (six items), attitude (five items) and barriers to practice (four items). We presented simple descriptive statistics, including the sum ratings and the proportions with different responses for each item, and compared different groups using Mann-Whitney U test for scaled ratings and Chi-square test for dichotomous responses.Ninety-two doctors and 52 NAH staff completed the surveys. Overall, doctors expressed slightly higher confidence on EBP compared to NAH staff. Out of a maximum sum rating of 27 over six items, doctors reported an average of 18.3 (SD 3.2) and NAH staff reported an average of 16.0 (SD 3.4), p = 0.002. Doctors were also more positive in their views on EBP. For example, 67.4% of doctors disagreed, but 61% of NAH staff agreed that "the importance of EBP in patient care is exaggerated", and 79.3% of doctors disagreed, but 46.2% of NAH staff agreed that "EBP is too tedious and impractical". Similar responses were observed for other items in the domain.Doctors and NAH staff shared similar concerns on barriers to evidence-based practice. The highest proportions considered poor facilities to access evidence a barrier (76% of doctors and 90% of NAH), followed by poor awareness of evidence (62% of doctors and 70% of NAH) and time constraints (63% of doctors and 68% of NAH), p = 0.09 for the combined rating of four items in the domain.ConclusionsThe findings of our survey suggest a need for greater efforts in promoting EBP among Malaysian hospital practitioners especially for NAH staff. From the responses based on the barriers to EBP, improving facilities for accessing evidence and promoting more user-friendly resources to address time constraints appear to be the priorities.

Framework of policy recommendations for implementation of evidence-based practice: a systematic scoping review

“…The following aspects were considered important: how and with whom to build EBP curricula, tiered education based on needs assessments, 18 3 273 67 -Al-Omari 19 5 386 97 ++ Al-Omari 20 9 178 86 ++ Amin 10 Countrywide 19 95 ++ Andersson 21 2 113 80 ++ Brown 22 1 458 45 ++ Brown 23 4 974 75 ++ Chiu 24 61 1156 69 ++ Gale 25 1 9 2 2 2 + + Gerrish 26 2 598 42 ++ Hadley 27 Several 317 100 ++ Kitto 28 Several 25 50 + Koehn 29 1 422 41 ++ Lai 30 2 144 72 + Melnyk 31 Several 160 100 + Mehrdad 32 15 410 70 ++ Mittal 33 22 93 85 ++ Nwagwu 34 10 89 89 -Olivieri 35 1 225 60 ++ Oranta 36 2 253 80 ++ Palfreyman 37 1 106 24 ++ Parahoo 38 10 479 53 ++ Poolman 39 Countrywide 367 60 ++ Roth 40 Several 29 100 ++ Scales 41 Countrywide 365 72 ++ Sur 42 Countrywide 714 9 ++ Ubbink 43 1 701 72 ++ Ulvenes 44 Countrywide 976 70 -Upton 45 Countrywide 381 76 ++ Veness 46 Countrywide learning by interaction and transfer of the education from the classroom to the bedside.…”

Nurses' perceptions of standardised assessment and prevention of complications in an ICU

“…A survey in two hospitals in Malaysia on allied health practitioners' ( n = 52) perception of EBP found that 61% felt its importance to be exaggerated, and 46·2% found it too tedious and impractical (Lai et al . ). The authors also found that 60% of the participants valued human views and experiences more than research evidence (Lai et al .…”

Profile of Evidence-Based Practice Among Respiratory Therapists in Taiwan

“…The findings are in accordance with reports about physicians, nurses, and the other allied health professionals. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore the EBP profile of registered RTs.…”

“…A number of studies have illustrated that, although a majority of medical, nursing, pharmacologic, and allied health professions hold positive attitudes toward EBP, their knowledge and skill pertaining to EBP implementation are relatively insufficient. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Whether or not RTs practice with evidence, and, if so, how, has been unclear. 19 RTs have to deal with a broad range of medical problems in clinical practice.…”