Evidence-Based Medical Educational Needs Assessment of Clinical Faculty Members of Hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 2011

Background and purpose: Today, according to busy doctors, one of the ways to keep their medical information up to date is the use of evidence-based medicine (EBM). The purpose of this study was to determine the educational needs of EBM in clinical faculty members working in Shahid Beheshti University Hospitals in Tehran and the prioritization of these needs. Methods: The study was descriptive, cross-sectional for 320 doctors working in four hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran in 1390. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data that its reliability was obtained 0.95 by calculating the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: From 140 distributed questionnaires, 133 questionnaires (93.3 %) were completed. The results showed that 65.4 % of the subjects were male and 34.6 % were female. The academic status of 55.6% of them was assistant professor and their average age was 47 years and their work experience average was 12.8 years. 41.6% of the target population was familiar with electronic information resources and 19.4 % were familiar with EBM concepts and terminology and 90.6% had a positive attitude towards EBM. Conclusions: The results showed that although the subjects had positive attitude towards EBM, but their knowledge and use of EBM is low, also the greatest barriers in effective implementation is the lack of evidence-based approach infrastructure and lack of time, therefore, it is recommended to develop a training package to enhance awareness and encourage the use of EBM by clinical faculty members.