On the Iranian Physician's Attitudes towards Applying Evidence-Based Medicine and the Barriers Involved

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the right, correct and intellectual use of the best evidence for making clinical decisions about patients’ health care. According to medical studies, the use of accredited evidence in clinical treatments are affected by physicians’ attitudes, knowledge and skills. This research study intended to survey Iranian practitioners’ attitudes towards the use of evidence-based medicine as well as the existing obstacles in Iran. This research was a kind of descriptive sectional study on the research league of general practitioners including the residents and specialists of Iranians hospitals in 1390. The sample size was assigned 245 individuals. The data were collected through questionnaires, inquiring demographic information and theinformation based on the research aims. The face validity and content validity of the questionnaire were confirmed by knowledgeable professionals in the field. Its reliability was estimated as α =0.8. The data were analyzed for descriptive statistics using spss16 software. As for the participants’ attitudes towards the use of evidencemedicine,most of the doctors (85.3%) agree that it would improve the condition of patients’ medical cares. The majority of the surveyed physicians (71.8%) agree that this approach helps with the process of decision making and 89% of theparticipants see the use of digital library effective in applying EBM. In terms of their views about the barriers involved, 59.2% realize the lack of investment as well as the lack of financial and intellectual support for doctors as one of the most important factors. Also, to 56.3% of them, the gap for acquiring new skills in using EBM accounts for the biggest barrier in its application. Iranian practitioners have positive attitudes about EBM but the lack of financial and intellectual encouragements for the needed investment discourages them to make the best use of EBM.