Evidence-Based Medicine Approaches of Students in a Medical School

Abstract

Aim: To define knowledge and attitudes of Cumhuriyet University Medical School (CUMS) students about Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and to determine opinions about the 1-week EBM education given to fourth-year students. Material and Methods: This was a descriptive study on third, fourth, and fifth-year students of CUMS. The 1-week EBM education given in 4th-year is an internship, they can take theoretically and practice lectures. The data collection tool used in research has questioned descriptive features of students, knowledge and attitudes about EBM, and their views on the internship. Results: 165 students volunteered to participate. The most common answers for investigation research question; for 3rd-year students' was general web sites, for 4th-year students' and 5th-year students' was electronic EBM database. While 3rd-year students valued to easy access for searching data, reliability was important for 4th and 5th-year students. The frequency of students' use of electronic databases (p<0.001), the rate of know the keyword as “good” (p=0.021), Medline usage frequency (p=0.003) and mean scores obtained from the pyramid of evidence (p<0.001) have differed significantly between students' years. There was a significant difference between students' English levels and electronic EBM database selection (p=0.034). Students', have upper-intermediate and upper English levels, 72.7%(8) chose the Electronic EBM database source to investigate. The most difficult parts for students when reading an article are their English insufficiency, statistics, and academic language. Students’ opinions about the EBM course; 77.2%(88) found that the course was beneficial, 7.0%(8) said course were not helpful, and 15.8%(18) were undecided. Conclusion: Improving students' English levels could increase their frequency of EBM database usage. It was observed knowledge and attitude of EBM were quite low in 3rd-year students, and general knowledge and attitude of 4th-year students, have received just new internship, were better than the other years. These findings show us that internship is beneficial.