Background: There is a steady rise in the magnitude of influence of evidence-based medicine on clinical practice. Therefore, new medical education programs must include a clear goal to educate physicians in the practice of evidence-based medicine. Many obstacles to any trial of achieving this goal in developing countries exist.
Objectives: To determine the knowledge and attitude of professors, residents and students toward evidence-based medicine.
Methods: A structured questionnaire was obtained from a random sample including 500 professors, residents and medical students over 2 years from Jan 2005 to Jan 2007.
Results: A response rate of 87% was obtained. Respondents were subdivided into EBM users 11% or non-users 89%. Only 22% of respondents felt that EBM would improve patient outcomes. Barriers to the use of EBM included: lack of formal training in skills of EBM (75%), lack of access to resources and electronic databases (70%), EBM is not practical for use in day-to-day practice (50%), and lack of positive impact on their academic and clinical degrees by knowing EBM skills (50%). Only 15% felt confident in basic skills of EBM: conducting a literature search (12%), evaluating the methodology of published studies (11%), and extrapolating from the evidence to the patient (9%). Most respondents from the three groups showed interest in further education about these skills.
Conclusions: Professors, residents and students rely more on traditional information sources (clinical experience and senior staff opinion) than EBM-related sources. Barriers to the practice of EBM appear to be lack of formal training in skills of EBM and lack of access to resources and electronic databases.