Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) is the new paradigm in the practice of medicine yet the manner in which future medical practitioners learn EBM varies across countries. There is a need to incorporate a standard content and method of teaching of EBM into the main medical curriculum.
Objective: To determine the manner and extent in which EBM is taught in a sample of medical schools in South East Asia including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Design: Survey of four medical schools involved in the South East Asia Optimising Reproductive and Child Health in Developing Countries (SEA-ORCHID) Project.
Main outcome measures: The profile of methods courses (which instruct students on EBM as a way of approaching clinical problems) in the medical curriculum. The profile of regular courses which use EBM as a method of teaching the content was also studied.
Results: There is a variation of methods in teaching EBM across medical schools. The main method of instruction is through small group problem-based discussion. There are Clinical Epidemiology (CE) courses that deal with the components of EBM such as Searching the Medical Literature, Research Question Formulation, Critical Appraisal, and Medical Decision Making. There are also specific research methods courses where students learn the steps in doing a research project, which assist in the understanding of how evidence is generated. Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines have specific Clinical Epidemiology courses for undergraduates that include both research methods and evidence based medicine topics. These countries also have graduate programs in Clinical Epidemiology which develop potential teachers and research specialists.
Conclusion: EBM is well established in formal courses in Clinical Epidemiology or Research Methodology. It is also used in some of the discussions in the other courses in these medical schools (such as Obstetrics and Gynecology, General Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, among others). The schools included in the study reflect a more developed status of EBM education in these countries, being training and research centers, and may not reflect the need for specific EBM or CE courses in other universities.
Objective: To determine the manner and extent in which EBM is taught in a sample of medical schools in South East Asia including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Design: Survey of four medical schools involved in the South East Asia Optimising Reproductive and Child Health in Developing Countries (SEA-ORCHID) Project.
Main outcome measures: The profile of methods courses (which instruct students on EBM as a way of approaching clinical problems) in the medical curriculum. The profile of regular courses which use EBM as a method of teaching the content was also studied.
Results: There is a variation of methods in teaching EBM across medical schools. The main method of instruction is through small group problem-based discussion. There are Clinical Epidemiology (CE) courses that deal with the components of EBM such as Searching the Medical Literature, Research Question Formulation, Critical Appraisal, and Medical Decision Making. There are also specific research methods courses where students learn the steps in doing a research project, which assist in the understanding of how evidence is generated. Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines have specific Clinical Epidemiology courses for undergraduates that include both research methods and evidence based medicine topics. These countries also have graduate programs in Clinical Epidemiology which develop potential teachers and research specialists.
Conclusion: EBM is well established in formal courses in Clinical Epidemiology or Research Methodology. It is also used in some of the discussions in the other courses in these medical schools (such as Obstetrics and Gynecology, General Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, among others). The schools included in the study reflect a more developed status of EBM education in these countries, being training and research centers, and may not reflect the need for specific EBM or CE courses in other universities.