What Brazilian students think and how they act in the face of evidence-based practice

Abstract

Introduction: Physiotherapy through evidence-based practice (EBP) can enrich information about the history of the disease, conduct the examination, aid in therapeutic diagnosis, and guide appropriate intervention. Objectives: To describe the attitudes, knowledge and behaviors of students of the physiotherapy course regarding EBP, as well as the main barriers found for its full implementation. Methods: This is a survey study, carried out among students from the 7th semester of the physiotherapy course from all Brazilian macro-regions and duly enrolled in invited Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Results: About 97% agreed that EBP is important in clinical practice, 31.94% said they did not receive formal training in EBP or received it partially during undergraduate studies, 87.5% said they have the ability for quality clinical research and 69.44% admitted to being able to incorporate practical guides to their learning and/or care. Among the main barriers pointed out for not performing EBP are insufficient time for scientific research, lack of information and lack of articles on the general population to which the patient belongs. Conclusion: The students considered the EBP an important tool in higher level learning and most of them both seek and apply knowledge present in relevant clinical research in their learning and/or care, although a considerable percentage never received formal training or read few articles per month. Among the barriers pointed to the achievement of EBP, the lack of skill for relevant scientific research and the lack of findings in the scientific literature for a certain population of patients, are factors that can be fully assisted by the higher education institution, thus culminating in the formation of a full professional and capable of providing a treatment of excellence.