The effect of 'evidence-based medicine' education on the knowledge and attitude of medical students

Background: In recent years, in order to improve the quality of medical care, physicians have integrated their clinical expertise and best available research evidences to form evidence-based medicine. This study aims to assess the impact of training of evidence-based medicine on knowledge and attitude of medical students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.Methods: This experimental study had a before-after design and did not use a control group and was carried out among 244 medical externs in a course of an educational year. During the one-month course of family medicine, a three-day workshop consisting of seven two-hour sessions were held by faculty staff of community medicine department about definition, components, and how to clinically use EBM in practice. SPSS version 16 was used for data analysis.Results: The average attitude (total 5 points) improved from 2.2 before the workshop to 4.1, which was statistically significant (P = 0.001). The attitude regarding the positive effects of evidence-based medicine on patient outcome and its practicality and cost-effectiveness for the patient changed drastically. The knowledge of the participants regarding common concepts of EBM improved from 1.4 points to 2.4 points (total 3 points) after the workshop, which was statistically significant (P = 0.001).Conclusions: Considering negative attitude and inadequate knowledge of students regarding evidence-based medicine, and favorable impact of the workshops on the knowledge and attitude of the students, even in the short-term, necessitates more extensive programs to be designed by the educational staff of the university.