Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Evidence based Practice among Medical and Dental Students

Aim: Evidence based medicine can be used to increase the confidence and overall outcome of the treatment offered to the patients. Hence the study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice among medical and dental students towards evidence based medicine and dentistry.

Materials and Method: A questionnaire based study was conducted among dental and medical students in Chennai to assess the importance and the need for evidence based medicine. A total of 50 dental and medical students each was included in the study. Data was collected and descriptive statistics was done.

Results: It was found from the study that about 7% of the medical students used PubMed journal as a referral in their daily practice while 6% of the dental students used PubMed journal as a referral in their daily practice. About 8% of the medical students understood the terms used in study while 6% of the dental students understood the terms used in studies. 41% of the medical students and 38% of the dental students were welcoming to practising evidence based medicine.

Conclusion: Medical and dental students almost have the same amount of knowledge when it came towards understanding and practising evidence based medicine. Though the study participants reported that they were aware of PubMed and Cochrane only few of them used them in decision making. EBD approach empowers clinicians to question and consider the use of the current best evidence in decision‑making on the management of individual patients.