Knowledge, attitude and practice of evidence-based medicine among primary care practitioners in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study.
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ABSTRACT: Objectives
To determine the level of knowledge and practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and the attitudes towards it and to identify the factors associated with its practice among primary care practitioners in Selangor, Malaysia.Setting
This cross-sectional study was conducted in randomly selected health clinics in Selangor. Data were collected from primary care physicians using self-administered questionnaires on knowledge, practice and attitudes regarding EBM.Participants
The study included 225 respondents working in either government or private clinics. It excluded house officers and those working in public and private universities or who were retired from practice.Results
A total of 32.9% had a high level of EBM knowledge, 12% had a positive attitude towards EBM and 0.4% had a good level of its practice. The factors significantly associated with EBM practice were ethnicity, attitude, length of work experience as a primary care practitioner and quick access to online reference applications on mobile phones.Conclusions
Although many physicians have suboptimal knowledge of EBM and low levels of practising it, majority of them have a neutral attitude towards EBM practice. Extensive experience as a primary care practitioner, quick access to online references on a mobile phone and good attitude towards EBM were associated with its practice.
SUBMITTER: Zanaridah MN
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8173288 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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| S-EPMC7392703 | biostudies-literature
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| S-EPMC8647533 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVES:Healthcare professionals are expected to firmly ground their practice in sound evidence. That implies that they know and use evidence-based medicine (EBM). In this study, our aim was to know how often health professionals actually made use of EBM in their daily practice. DESIGN:A questionnaire survey of healthcare professionals. PARTICIPANTS:Healthcare professionals who attended six university postgraduate courses. 226 answered the questionnaire (144 physicians, 64 nurses and 24 pharmacists; response rate 63.3%). SETTING:56.5% of respondents worked in hospitals (mostly non-teaching), 25.0% in nursing homes and 10.2% in primary care. All participants were French-speaking and lived in France or Switzerland. MEASURES:Declared degree of knowledge and use of EBM, use of EBM-related information sources. RESULTS:Overall, 14.2% of respondents declared to use EBM regularly in their daily practice and 15.6% declared to use EBM only occasionally. The remaining respondents declared they: knew about EBM but did not use it (33.1%), had just heard about EBM (31.9%) or did not know what EBM is (4.0%). Concerning the use of EBM-related information sources, 83.4% declared to use at least monthly (or more often) clinical guidelines, 47.1% PubMed, 21.3% the Cochrane Library and 6.4% other medical databases.Fewer pharmacists (12%) declared to use EBM in their practice than nurses (22%) or doctors (36%). No difference appeared when analysed by gender, work setting or years after graduation. The most frequent obstacles perceived for the practice of EBM were: lack of general knowledge about EBM, lack of skills for critical appraisal and lack of time. CONCLUSIONS:Only a minority of health professionals-with differences between physicians, nurses and pharmacists-declare to regularly use EBM in their professional practice. A larger proportion appears to be interested in EBM but seems to be deterred by their lack of knowledge, skills and personal time.
| S-EPMC6475442 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide. Sub- Saharan Africa has a high incidence, prevalence and mortality due to shortage and underutilization of screening facilities. This study aims to assess knowledge and attitude towards cervical cancer and its prevention, as well as practice of cervical cancer screening. METHODS:This cross-sectional community- based study was conducted in Butajira, Ethiopia in February 2018. Systematic cluster randomized sampling was used to select households from which women in the targeted age group of 30-49?years were invited to participate. Data was collected using a quantitative door to door approach. The questionnaire included socio-demographic data, obstetric history, general knowledge, risk factors, attitude and practice. Logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with knowledge, attitude and practice after dichotomizing the scores using the median as cut off point. RESULTS:Three hundred forty-two out of 354 women completed the interviewer administered questionnaire making the response rate 96.3%. 125 women (36%) were aware of cervical cancer and 14 (4.7%) knew symptoms. None of the women named HPV as a risk factor. 61% thought it was a deadly disease, 13.5% felt at risk of developing cervical cancer and 60.7% said cervical cancer is treatable. Eight women (2.3%) had previously been screened. 48.1% had a source of information concerning cervical cancer, of which 66.5% named nurses. Better knowledge was associated with 1-8?years of education (OR?=?2.4; CI: 2.4-1.3), having a source of information (OR?=?9.1, CI:4.0-20.6), use of contraceptives (OR?=?2.3, CI: 1.3-4.0) and a higher income (OR?=?1.009, CI: 1.00-1.01). Naming nurses (OR:5.0, CI:2.4-10.3), another source of information (OR?=?3.3, CI:1.2-9.0), use of contraceptives (OR?=?2.2, CI:1.2-3.8) and living in an urban area (OR?=?3.3, CI:1.2-9.0) were associated with a positive attitude. Naming nurses (OR?=?21,0, CI:10.4-42.3) and another source of information (OR?=?5.8, CI:2.4-13.5) were associated with participating in cervical cancer screening. CONCLUSION:Most women were unaware of cervical cancer, HPV-infection as a risk factor and did not feel susceptible to cervical cancer. As Health workers were the most commonly mentioned source of information, focus should be put on their further education.
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