Evidence-Based Practices and Use among Employees and Students at an Austrian Medical University.

Daniela Haluza,David Jungwirth,Susanne Gahbauer

doi:10.3390/jcm10194438

Daniela Haluza, David Jungwirth + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10194438

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Abstract

Developed in the pre-internet era in the early 1980s, empirical medical practice, i.e., evidence-based practice (EBP) has become crucial in critical thinking and statistical reasoning at the point-of-care. As little evidence is available so far on how EBP is perceived in the Austrian academic context, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey among a nonrandom purposive sample of employees and students at the Medical University Vienna, Austria (total n = 1247, 59.8% females). The German questionnaire assessed both EBP capability beliefs and EBP use, with the respective indices both yielding good internal consistency. We conducted subgroup comparisons between employees (n = 638) and students (n = 609). In line with Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, we found a correlation between EBP capability beliefs and EBP use, with higher scores reported in the employee group. The results indicated that the participants did not strictly follow the sequential EBP steps as grounded in the item-response theory. Since its emergence, EBP has struggled to overcome the dominating traditional way of conducting medicine, which is also known as eminence-based medicine, where ad hoc decisions are based upon expert opinions, and nowadays frequently supplemented by quick online searches. Medical staff and supervisors of medical students should be aware of the existing overlaps and synergies of these potentially equivalent factors in clinical care. There is a need for intensifying the public and scientific debate on how to deal with the divergence between EBP theory and EBP practice.

Highlights

IntroductionAbout 40 years ago, the realization that results from scientific research did not consistently find their way into everyday clinical care led to the introduction of empirical medical practice, i.e., evidence-based practice (EBP) [1]
In line with Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, we found a correlation between evidence-based practice (EBP) capability beliefs and EBP use, with higher scores reported in the employee group
About 40 years ago, the realization that results from scientific research did not consistently find their way into everyday clinical care led to the introduction of empirical medical practice, i.e., evidence-based practice (EBP) [1]

Summary

Introduction

About 40 years ago, the realization that results from scientific research did not consistently find their way into everyday clinical care led to the introduction of empirical medical practice, i.e., evidence-based practice (EBP) [1]. In contrast to relying on expert opinions not based on empirical studies (eminence-based medicine), EBP focuses on critical appraisal, systematic literature reviews, and high quality national or even international scientific standards [2,3]. This patient-oriented, contextual process of evidence collection, collaboration, and critical reasoning allows for solid clinical decisions. Medicine-based evidence means that longitudinal patient profiles, i.e., the biological, clinical, psychological, and social environmental history that match the index patient profile, provide the comparative empirical base for specific case management

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