Knowledge, practices and attitudes of physicians towards evidence-based medicine in Egypt

Background: Evidence-based medicine help clinicians deal with information overload, to distribute healthcare resources more equitably, help reduce healthcare costs, and justify treatment choices to the public. Aims: This study aimed to assess evidence-based medicine (EBM) knowledge, practices and attitudes among physicians in Tanta University hospital, Tanta, Egypt. Methods: A cross-sectional study was used. Collection of data was by a self-administrated questionnaire distributed to 398 physicians in different specialties during 2017. Results: Response rate was 93.6%. More than half (61.3%) of participants reported Pub Med as used in decision-making. Physicians with good knowledge of EBM represented 10.5%, those with fair knowledge represented 54%, and those with poor knowledge represented 35.5%. Regarding attitudes towards EBM, 76.4% of study participants welcomed the current promotion of EBM; 81.4% thought that it useful to use research findings in daily management of patients; and 89.9% thought that practicing EBM improved patient outcomes. More than half of participants (55.8%) had attended courses related to EBM, but only 6.8% had attended courses related to critical appraisal. The majority of participants (97%) had access to the World Wide Web. Barriers reported by participants that interfere with EBM practice were patient overload (68.1%), lack of time (60.1%), colleagues’ attitudes (47%), lack of skills (46.7%), and fear of criticism (44.5%). Conclusions: Most participants in this study have a positive attitude towards EBM, have a fair knowledge of it, but poor practices. EBM should be integrated in the curriculum of both undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and EBM training courses provided to residents to ensure correct application of EBM in daily practice.