Levels of consciousness and awareness about evidence-based medicine among consultants in tertiary health care institutions in Nigeria.
OBJECTIVE
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) incorporates results of health care research when making decisions about the clinical care of individuals. Information and communication technologies now play significant roles in organizing available research results in EBM software suites. This study examines the level of consciousness and awareness about EBM of consultants in tertiary health institutions in Nigeria.


METHODS
A total of 100 consultants were randomly selected from 10 of the 29 teaching hospitals in Nigeria and data were collected using a questionnaire and an interview schedule. From this data, 64 EBM awareness and utilization variables were identified and data on the dynamics of their inter-relationships were reported by 89 of the participants.


RESULTS
Of the 89 respondents, less than half (47.19%) have knowledge about EBM that could be considered as high, while EBM knowledge is low for the remaining respondents (52.81%). Evidence Summaries appear to be a more popular tool among the respondents than the resources of Journals and Clinical Guidelines.


CONCLUSIONS
Consultants in the teaching hospitals appeared not to have the high level of EBM consciousness and awareness that would be expected of them, although there is a consciousness that EBM will foster ease of access and promote equity in health care services.
Nwagwu
Williams
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Africa Regional Centre for Information Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. willieezi@yahoo.com
D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires