Abstract
Background
This survey was conducted to gain information about how surgeons use scientific literature and how this is influenced by their knowledge of evidence-based medicine. The results were compared to a survey conducted 10 years previously. Where appropriate, the same questions as in the 2003 survey were used.
Methods
We administered a voluntary questionnaire to participants at the AO Foundation courses in Davos, Switzerland, in December 2013. We surveyed, amongst other topics, the surgeons’ levels of education in Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM), how they implement EBM in daily practice and their publication record.
Results
A total of 330 surgeons completed the 27 question survey. 49% (159/322) had learned about EBM in medical school. However, 69% (110/159) of those with EBM education had taken only one semester or less on the subject. 54% of participants (170/317) correctly identified a definition of EBM in surgery. This compares to 45% in the 2003 survey (130/288 respondents) of a subset who said they have previously heard of evidence-based orthopaedic surgery. When it came to applying EBM in their daily work, 45% of respondents (143/320) claim to always practice it (2003 figure: 28%, 113/404), while 26% (84/320) only use EBM for difficult or controversial cases (2003 figure: 26%, 104/404). 27% (88/323) have never published a manuscript as an author or co-author (2003 figure: 14%, 121/453), 53% (170/323) have been involved in 1–10 publications (2003 figure: 59%, 269/453), and 20% (65/323) have published more than 10 times (2003 figure: 27%, 63/453).
Conclusions
While at face value there appears to be a greater understanding and utilisation of EBM among AO course participants who completed the 2013 survey compared to the 2003 study, several outcomes do not show any great variation in the intervening decade.
Level of Evidence
professional survey
