A survey of Paediatricians on evidence-based medical practice in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The increasing need for a uniform standard of medical practice necessitates an examination of the impediments to the use of evidencebased medicine.

Objective: To examine the knowledge, perceived barriers to the use of evidence-based medicine and the associated profession-related factors among paediatricians in Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of paediatricians in Nigeria was conducted between March and April 2013 by Email. The knowledge about evidence-based medicine and systematic reviews was tested using a structured questionnaire and the responses were provided on three-item Likert scale.

Results: The response rate in the survey was 56.5% (65/115). Almost 37% of the participants had postgraduate qualification in or before year 1999 (Group I). Majority (93.8%) of the respondents believed that EBM should form the basis for decision making in clinical practice while 53.9% believed that EBM is more suitable for the developed world. The overall mean knowledge score was 77.6%. Knowledge about EBM was rated high among 80% of the participants and the proportion with high knowledge was not significantly associated with EBM use in routine practice or prior EBM training. Some of the perceived barriers to EBM use included lack of skills for understanding statistics (81.6%), lack of incentives for the use of EBM (64.7%), lack of time (44.6%) and lack of conclusive evidences (44.6%).

Conclusion: The knowledge of EBM among Nigerian paediatricians was good but a high proportion regarded lack of skills to perform statistical analysis required for EBM as a major barrier to the practice of EBM.

Keywords: Evidence-based medicine, Systematic review, Research, Paediatricians