Undergraduate medical students’ perceptions, attitudes, and competencies in evidence-based medicine (EBM), and their understanding of EBM reality in Syria

Abstract

BackgroundTeaching evidence-based medicine (EBM) should be evaluated and guided by evidence of its own effectiveness. However, no data are available on adoption of EBM by Syrian undergraduate, postgraduate, or practicing physicians. In fact, the teaching of EBM in Syria is not yet a part of undergraduate medical curricula. The authors evaluated education of evidence-based medicine through a two-day intensive training course.MethodsThe authors evaluated education of evidence-based medicine through a two-day intensive training course that took place in 2011. The course included didactic lectures as well as interactive hands-on workshops on all topics of EBM. A comprehensive questionnaire, that included the Berlin questionnaire, was used to inspect medical students’ awareness of, attitudes toward, and competencies’ in EBM.ResultsAccording to students, problems facing proper EBM practice in Syria were the absence of the following: an EBM teaching module in medical school curriculum (94%), role models among professors and instructors (92%), a librarian (70%), institutional subscription to medical journals (94%), and sufficient IT hardware (58%). After the course, there was a statistically significant increase in medical students' perceived ability to go through steps of EBM, namely: formulating PICO questions (56.9%), searching for evidence (39.8%), appraising the evidence (27.3%), understanding statistics (48%), and applying evidence at point of care (34.1%). However, mean increase in Berlin scores after the course was 2.68, a non-statistically significant increase of 17.86%.ConclusionThe road to a better EBM reality in Syria starts with teaching EBM in medical school and developing the proper environment to facilitate transforming current medical education and practice to an evidence-based standard in Syria.

Knowledge and attitude toward evidence‐based medicine among medical students in Semnan, Iran

“…The majority of our respondents agreed that practicing EBM improved patient care and reduced healthcare costs. These findings were comparable to other previous studies . Similarly in some studies that was conducted among postgraduate and general physician findings showed similar results .…”

“…The response rate in this study was 84% which was a considerable achievement when compared with some other studies , but lower than some studies . This high response rate could be owing to the by‐hand method of distribution.…”

Multiple strategy peer-taught evidence-based medicine course in a poor resource setting

“…This follows the results of a peer-taught EBM workshop held at The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) [15]. We also proved efficacy similar to a two day face to face expert-taught course, previously held in Syria by Al-Ahdab et al The difference between the two courses was non-statistically significant [11]. …”

“…In Syria, Alahdab et al explored the barriers to EBM awareness in 2012, and reported that the most important barriers were; the absence of EBM curricula, equipment and facilities, in addition to difficulties in accessing information, institutional subscriptions to medical journals, and sufficient IT hardware [11]. In the Middle East especially, additional challenges have aggravated the situation since the Arab Spring began, such as difficulties in attending face to face contact courses due to lack of safety, resources and infrastructure.…”

The impact of clinical maturity on competency in evidence-based medicine: a mixed-methods study

“…Our study demonstrated that medical trainees entering their first clinical training experience have a moderate level of competency in EBM. This level of competency is commensurate with other studies that have examined student competency in EBM during similar years of clinical training 35 36. There is limited knowledge as to how medical trainees’ competency in EBM changes as they progress from first to final year trainees and beyond into the clinical workforce.…”