A study of knowledge and attitudes towards the use of evidence-based medicine among Primary Health Care Physicians in Bahrain

OBJECTIVE: A study of perceptions and attitudes towards the use of evidence-based medicine (EBM) among family physicians in Bahrain.

METHODS: A systematically developed, anonymous, self administered 13 item questionnaire was mailed to 124 Bahraini family physicians in the Ministry of Health, Bahrain between January and April 2004. The response rate was 65%. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Windows version 11.00).

RESULTS: The respondents (n=81) were mainly female (65.4%) with a mean age of 40 (SD 7.7) years, with 12.7 (SD 8.3) years since graduation. Forty-two percent had attended EBM workshops and 61% claimed to use EBM in their practice. Those who had attended a workshop were more likely to assert that they were practicing EBM (82% versus 47%; p=0.001). Less than 10% selected patient s choice as a component of EBM. The 81.5% of respondents agreed their patients were willing to participate in decision making but 50% felt that only 10-25% of their patients were capable. No time (53.1%) and no ready access to resources (73.5%) were the most cited barriers, 32% of respondents agreed that EBM is not applicable to their culture.

CONCLUSION: Most family physicians in Bahrain claimed to use EBM in their practice, particularly if they had attended an EBM workshop. However, most of them did not consider patients values as a component of EBM. A substantial minority considered that EBM is inapplicable to their culture.