Attitudes of Physicians Towards Barriers to Evidence-Based Medicine in Ilam, Iran

Abstract

Background: Evidence based medicine (EBM) is very crucial in physician's decisions. Several studies have been conducted on EBM in Iran, but none have referred to barriers regarding EBM. Objectives: In order to address this issue, we conducted a study on physicians to determine their attitudes towards the barriers to EBM. Patients and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional analytical study. One-hundred and twenty physicians were selected using stratified random sampling among 200 physicians of Ilam city. The main outcome was the measure of the attitudes of physicians towards barriers to EBM. Results: Of the 120 distributed questionnaires, 94 questionnaires were completed and returned (78.3%). About 56.6% of participants used the internet to answer the questions about their patients. There was a significant relationship between patient-related barriers and manager-related barriers (r = 0.237, P = 0.023). Post hoc tests showed that there is a significant difference between the attitude of general practitioners and the attitude of specialists regarding evidence-related barriers (mean difference = 2.4, Std = 1.1, P = 0.47). Conclusions: This study highlights the barriers encountered by physicians, related to the use of EBM in four sections. Evidence based medicine is now available in Iran and physicians must move towards learning this approach, while health managers should carefully start planning in this field. The recommendations of this study include a review of barriers of EBM in Iran