Primary Health Care Physicians' Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Evidence-Based Medicine in Tabuk City, KSA

Altemani, Abdullah H.; Altemani, Assem H.

Primary Health Care Physicians' Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Evidence-Based Medicine in Tabuk City, KSA

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tabuk, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

² Medical Resident, Medical Administration, University of Tabuk, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is an essential component of modern medical practice and crucial for patient safety and high-quality health care services.
Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards evidence-based medicine and the barriers against its application in daily medical practice.
Subjects and Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey using a self-administered validated questionnaire among 68 primary health care physicians in Tabuk city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the period from December 2016 to June 2017. Validated questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. P-value of <0.05 was considered as significant. Result: There are 62.2% male participants, the age of the majority were from 30 to 50 years (73.5%) and (72.1%) did not have board qualification, the primary literature review and summaries were the popular methods for EBM. The knowledge and attitude were suboptimal; some did not even access Medline. The unavailability of time and internet access were the most frequent barriers reported. Only a minority received formal EBM training.
Conclusion: The knowledge and attitude regarding EBM were suboptimal among the primary health care physicians, the time factors, unavailability of the internet and the lack of letters, access to journals, and guidelines were the principal barriers to EBM incorporation in the clinical practice.

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