Comparison of evidence-based practice between physicians and nurses: a national survey of regional hospitals in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
Although evidence-based practice (EBP) has been widely investigated, few studies compare physicians and nurses on performance.


METHODS
A structured questionnaire survey was used to investigate EBP among physicians and nurses in 61 regional hospitals of Taiwan. Valid postal questionnaires were collected from 605 physicians and 551 nurses during February to May 2007.


RESULTS
Physicians were more aware of EBP than nurses. Although both groups had high recognition of belief in and favorable attitudes toward EBP, their knowledge of and skill in EBP were relatively low. When compared with nurses, physicians were more willing to support the promotion of EBP implementations in clinical services. Physicians' knowledge and skills regarding the application of EBP principles were greater than nurses. Furthermore, physicians more often accessed the on-line evidence-retrieval databases, including the Cochrane Library. The most commonly ranked barriers to EBP applications for both groups included lack of designated personnel, lack of convenient kits, limited basic knowledge of EBP, and time. In general, nurses generated more barriers than physicians.


CONCLUSIONS
There were significant discrepancies between physicians and nurses in their awareness of, attitude toward, knowledge of, skill in, behavior toward, and barriers regarding EBP. In implementing EBP, strategies to overcome barriers and provide on-line evidence-retrieval systems should differ for physicians and nurses.
Chiu
Ya-Wen
YW
Division of Health Policy Research and Development, Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, 35 Keyan Road, Zhunan, Miaoli, Taiwan.
Weng
Yi-Hao
YH
Lo
Heng-Lien
HL
Hsu
Chih-Cheng
CC
Shih
Ya-Hui
YH
Kuo
Ken N
KN
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses'; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan