Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Evidence‑based medicine among health‑care workers in hospitals in Iran: A nationwide survey

Authors

. Ahmad Moosavi 1
. Alireza Sadeghpour 2
. Saber Azami‑Aghdash 3
. Naser Derakhshani 4
. Mohammad Mohseni 5
. Dariush Jafarzadeh 6
. Aziz Rezapour 4

1 Department of Health and Community Medicine, Dezful University of Medical Sciences, Dezful, Iran

2 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

3 Tabriz Health Services Management Research Center, Health Management and Safety Promotion Research Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

4 Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

5 Health Services Management Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

6 Iranian Center of Excellence in Health Management, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Evidence‑based medicine (EBM) plays an important and dominant role in
promoting effective decision‑making in the health system. This study was aimed to evaluate the
EBM performance among health‑care workers (HCWs) in hospitals in Iran.
METHODS: In this study (a cross‑sectional study), participants were 2800 HCWs in hospitals.
A researcher‑made questionnaire was designed, and judgments of 10 experts were used for the
improvement of content validity. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by the test‑retest
method (α = 0.85). Data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics, t‑test, and one‑way ANOVA,
in SPSS.16 software.
RESULTS: Eventually, 1524 questionnaires were completed (response rate: 54.4%). The results
of the study show that 62%of participants have not accessed scientific journals, 52% of them have
difficulties using the Internet at work, guidelines were not reachable for 76% of them, and about 80%
have not access to databases. About 39% of participants were not well informed about databases
of EBM, and 15.8% of them were immensely knowledgeable about EBM terminology. The most
important problems to increase HCWs information about EBM include research methodology‑ related
problems, lack of resources and motivation, and coordination problems. The most prominent facilitators
include: providing training courses in EBM and increased facilities. Only work experience showed
a significant correlation with barriers and facilitators, and gender revealed a significant correlation
with barriers (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION: It seems that prioritizing the increased access to information resources and
databases, considering the research skills of the HCWs, extending the opportunities and increasing
the facilities such as workforce, equipment, physical environment, and accessibility can have a great
impact on the improvement of the activities associated with EBM.

Keywords

Barriers
evidence‑based medicine
facilitators
health care workers
hospitals
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 10, Issue 12
December 2020
Pages 1-8

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