Multi-disciplinary anonymous survey on a university hospital's medical doctors' knowledge of established terms and parameters in evidence-based medicine

Abstract

Background Patient care according to the principles of evidence-based medicine (EbM) is defined by the Social Code (SGB, inter alia §137f SGB V). As part of quality assurance in medicine, a mandatory further education for doctors is demanded. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate how familiar medical practitioners are with common terms and parameters of EbM. Another question was, at which point of the medical training a possible postgraduate training on EbM methods should take place. Material and Methods In February 2017, an anonymous survey (paper questionnaire) was conducted at four clinics of the Witten/Herdecke University. The questionnaire offered 12 application scenarios for EbM methods; all items could be clearly answered with right or wrong; the refusal of an answer to single items was allowed. The investigation's primary endpoint was the individual proportion [%] of correctly among all available answers for each survey participant. The primary analysis sought to estimate this proportion of correct answers by means of a two-sided 95% confidence interval. Results A total of 70 evaluable questionnaires could be evaluated (15-19 per clinic). The median individual proportion of correct answers was 47% (95% CI 40%; 50%). The four clinics did not differ significantly with respect to this proportion of correct answers (Kruskal/Wallis p=0.388) and showed median proportions between 40% and 50%. Discussion Medical practitioners at university hospitals can be expected to have certain knowledge on common methods of clinical research. However, less than 50% of the answer were correct and a need for further training in EbM-specific methods appears to be indicated. The survey did not provide information on the optimal timing of such offers during medical training.