The attitude of dentists to evidence-based medicine, awareness and barriers related to implementation in practice

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the paradigm of evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been gradually being introduced into global practical healthcare. In Russia, research among dentists on attitudes to evidence-based medicine, on obstacles to the transition from opinion-based practice to evidence-based practice, and on additional support needed to introduce evidence-based medicine into everyday practice, has not been conducted before. The alm of the study — to analyze the attitude of Russian dentists to evidence-based medicine, to assess the awareness and barriers associated with the introduction of EBM into practice.
Materials and methods.
A survey of dentists of the Altai Territory (Russia), students and teachers of the Institute of Dentistry of the Altai State Medical University (Russia) was conducted. A total of 736 respondents participated in the study. The questions concerned respondents’ attitudes towards evidence-based medicine, abilities and sources of access to evidence, and perceived barriers to the practice of evidence-based medicine.
Results.
When analyzing the respondents’ answers to the question about self-assessment of knowledge in the field of EBM, from 20.5% to 46.0% noted a good and very good level of knowledge. In general, our respondents are well acquainted with Russian-language databases of scientific articles such as CyberLeninka, eLibrary and also Google Scholar. Practitioners and teachers use the guidelines of professional communities much more often than students of the Institute of Dentistry (p=0.027). From 43.7% to 69.3% of the representatives of the study groups had not heard of the Cochrane Library, which publishes systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Medscape and UpToDate are not familiar to most respondents. Teachers are more likely than respondents from other groups to read the full texts of articles (p=0.020). Teachers and certified doctors more often than students evaluate the possibility of practical application of the results (p=0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). Teachers are more likely to take into account the relevance of students and doctors (p=0.030 and 0.045, respectively). The choice of treatment tactics is influenced by the advice of colleagues and personal experience. None of the respondents could correctly answer all five questions of the test on the terminology of evidence-based medicine. Absolutely all respondents consider it necessary to have approved clinical recommendations and are ready to apply them in practice.
Conclusion.
Identified insufficient knowledge of the stages and lack of education in the field of EBM. At the same time, the positive attitude of the respondents is determined, characterized by a desire to work in accordance with the principles of EBM.