title: Educational strategies for teaching evidence-based practice to undergraduate health students: systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this systematic review was to find best teaching strategies for teaching evidence-based practice (EBP) to undergraduate health students that have been adopted over the last years in healthcare institutions worldwide.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors carried out a systematic, comprehensive bibliographic search using Medline database for the years 2005 to March 2015 (updated in March 2016). Search terms used were chosen from the USNLM Institutes of Health list of MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) and free text key terms were used as well. Selected articles were measured based on the inclusion criteria of this study and initially compared in terms of titles or abstracts. Finally, articles relevant to the subject of this review were retrieved in full text. Critical appraisal was done to determine the effects of strategy of teaching evidence-based medicine (EBM).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty articles were included in the review. The majority of the studies sampled medical students (n=13) and only few conducted among nursing (n=2), pharmacy (n=2), physiotherapy/therapy (n=1), dentistry (n=1), or mixed disciplines (n=1) students. Studies evaluated a variety of educational interventions of varying duration, frequency and format (lectures, tutorials, workshops, conferences, journal clubs, and online sessions), or combination of these to teach EBP. We categorized interventions into single interventions covering a workshop, conference, lecture, journal club, or e-learning and multifaceted interventions where a combination of strategies had been assessed. Seven studies reported an overall increase to all EBP domains indicating a higher EBP competence and two studies focused on the searching databases skill.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Followings were deduced from above analysis: multifaceted approach may be best suited when teaching EBM to health students; the use of technology to promote EBP through mobile devices, simulation, and the web is on the rise; and the duration of the interventions varying form some hours to even months was not related to the students' EBP competence.
authors.affiliation: Society of Junior Doctors, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8986-2704
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kyriakoulis
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital of Heraklion, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Athina
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0300-0650
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patelarou
authors.affiliation: Department of Upper Gastrointestinal and Bariatric Surgery, St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: Aggelos
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0681-2053
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laliotis
authors.affiliation: Department of Upper Gastrointestinal and Bariatric Surgery, St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1929-602X
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Venizeleio General Hospital, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Michail
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2967-184X
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matalliotakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Technological and Educational Institute of Crete, Sitia, Greece.
authors.forename: Chrysoula
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1243-7069
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tsiou
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Family Health, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, London, UK.
authors.forename: Evridiki
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0892-3200
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Patelarou
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice / Q000193:education*; D006281:Health Occupations / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D013336:Students, Health Occupations; D013663:Teaching
keywords: Educational measurement; Evidence-based practice; Health occupations; Medical students; Teaching