title: Evidence-based medicine knowledge, attitudes, and skills of community faculty.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  As medical schools turn to community physicians for ambulatory care teaching, assessing the preparation of these faculty in principles of evidence-based medicine (EBM) becomes important.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the knowledge and attitudes of community faculty concerning EBM and their use of EBM in patient care and teaching.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey conducted from January to March of 2000.
  
  
  METHODS
  A clinical campus of a state medical school; a midwestern city of a half-million people with demographics close to national means.
  
  
  METHODS
  Comparisons of community faculty with full-time faculty in perceived importance and understanding of EBM (5-point scale), knowledge of EBM, and use of EBM in patient care and teaching.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Responses were obtained from 63% (177) of eligible community faculty and 71% (22) of full-time faculty. Community faculty considered EBM skills to be less important for daily practice than did full-time faculty (3.1 vs 4.0; P < .01). Primary care community faculty were less confident of their EBM knowledge than were subspecialty community or full-time faculty (2.9 vs 3.3 vs 3.6; P < .01). Objective measures of EBM knowledge showed primary care and subspecialty community faculty about equal and significantly below full-time faculty (P < .01). Thirty-three percent of community faculty versus 5% of full-time faculty do not incorporate EBM principles into their teaching (P < .01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Community faculty are not as equipped or motivated to incorporate EBM into their clinical teaching as are full-time faculty. Faculty development programs for community faculty should feature how to use and teach basic EBM concepts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Missouri in Kansas City, Kansas City, Mo, USA. bbeasley@saint-lukes.org
authors.forename: Brent W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Beasley
authors.forename: Douglas C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Woolley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004501:Education, Medical; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D007615:Kansas; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis