The Impact of an Evidence-Based Medicine Workshop on Residents' Attitudes towards and Self-Reported Ability in Evidence-Based Practice.

BACKGROUND

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is a part of many medical school and residency curricula worldwide, but there is little research into the most effective methods to teach these skills.

PURPOSE

To evaluate whether a course on EBM utilizing adult learning principals leads to both immediate and short-term attitudinal, confidence, and behavioral change.

METHODS

Seventy-three (73) Internal Medicine and Internal Medicine/Pediatric residents attended a half-day seminar on EBM. Participants completed pre- and post-course 5-point Likert questionnaires, and set two personal goals for integrating EBM into their daily practice. We performed nonparametric two -sample Wilcoxon Rank-Sum tests to compare responses. We also elicited the self-reported success of the residents in meeting their goals one-month post-course.

RESULTS

Attitudes about EBM improved (3.5 pre-course vs. 3.7 post-course), as well as selfreported EBM skills (3.0 vs. 3.3). Seventy-two percent of residents reported having met at least one of their two goals for the integration of EBM into their practice.

CONCLUSIONS

An EBM workshop based upon adult learning principles was successful in meeting multiple educational goals. The links between andragogy, learners' internal drive for behavior change, and successful EBM education should be further explored.