The Effect of an Evidence Based Medicine Workshop on Undergraduate Medical Students’ Skills in Applying EBM

Introduction: The effect of educational interventions concerning the use of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) on post graduate medical students has been assessed in many studies. But, there are few studies concerning these interventions in undergraduate medical education. This study was performed to determine the effect of an EBM workshop on under graduate medical students’ skill in using EBM. Methods: In a pre-experimental study, 24 forth and fifth year medical students who had passed their internal medicine and surgery wards were selected through convenience sampling. A three session workshop about EBM, each session lasting for five hours was held for them. Students' attitude towards workshop was assessed using a questionnaire with Likert scale. Also, their abilities in formulating a clinical question and using effective search strategies were measured using pre-test/post-test and check list, respectively.. Wilcoxon test was performed in order to compare pre and post tests by SPSS software. Results: Students had 23 mistakes in pre-test and 8 in post test, out of 40 questions about designing clinical question which showed a significant difference. The students’ score in search strategies was 40 in pretest and 100 in post test out of the total score 100, which had increased significantly. In general, the students’ attitude towards workshop was positive. Conclusion: This intervention improved clinical question development, and searching strategies. The students’ attitude was positive in total. More studies are recommended to assess the effects of early interventions such as workshop, on students, interns and residents.