Assessment of Physicians’ Attitude, Awareness and Knowledge of Evidence Based Medicine an Observation from Yemen

Background: Evidence-based practice is essential for patient safety and high-quality health care. This study aims to assess physicians' attitude, awareness and knowledge about evidence-based medicine (EBM) and to identify the barriers against its implication in daily medical practice. Method: A questionnaire survey was conducted among physicians working in primary healthcare centers and public hospitals in Mukalla City, Yemen. The main outcome measures were physicians' attitude, awareness and knowledge score. Results: The response rate was 65.1%. Most of the respondents welcomed the current promotion of EBM (87%). While 14.7% of participants had used EBM resources in their clinical decision and an average of 46.9% of respondents know the EBM baseline methods. The main barrier against evidence based practice was the unavailability of the internet in the work place (57.2%) followed by lack of personal time (53.0%). Factors positively affected physicians' attitude were older age, longer time since graduation, specialists versus residents, higher qualification and previous EBM training. Awareness and knowledge were affected by EBM training and qualification, respectively. Conclusion: EBM attitude is favorable in the current study but it was not reflected on physicians' awareness and knowledge. Efforts should be directed toward modifiable factors most probably EBM training with emphasizing on its quality and effectiveness and encouraging higher qualifications. We recommend making EBM electronic resources available in hospitals and health centers.