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Introduction
Evidence-based practice improves healthcare and patient outcomes, by providing a framework for integrating research into clinical practice. Evidence-based practice is considered a core competency in medical education.1–6 Here, the term evidence-based medicine (EBM) describes evidence-based practice in medicine and healthcare. The core competencies in EBM are often described as the ability to:
Formulate a research question
Find best available research
Critically appraise research findings
Evaluate strength/certainty of evidence
Although these competencies are part of curricula for medical and health education programmes in Sweden, there is no consensus on which methods best support learning of EBM.7 8 Teaching varies between contexts regarding (a) emphasis on EBM in a curriculum, (b) teaching methods, (c) online versus in-classroom or clinical setting, (d) frequency of learning and (e) assessment of learning.4 8–13 There is a large number of models and tools designed to understand and facilitate EBM, for example, evidence hierarchy, critical appraisal or risk of bias assessment tools and checklists. It can be difficult for students to get an overview of which tools are relevant and when.6 At our university, students expressed a need for training in how to formulate questions, find relevant research and assess and grade the evidence. Application of EBM methods is something students found challenging and we have seen a need to help students better understand how they can approach the steps of EBM. As components of the EBM process are interdependent, we believe that it is essential to provide a framework for understanding, learning and practising EBM and related tools. It is reasonable to assume that teaching and learning the processes of EBM and systematic review methodology could benefit from being delivered with continuity and progression, which however does not always occur due to limited available resources. EBM education can be delivered in different …
Footnotes
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Presented at Parts of this paper were included in a short oral presentation by Maria Björklund at the Cochrane Colloquium in London, 4–6 September 2023. Björklund M, Garwicz M, Bruschettini M, Ringsten, M. Creating a systematic review infrastructure: Implementing Cochrane tools for students, teachers, researchers and clinicians in a university setting. Conference abstract available: https://events.cochrane.org/colloquium-2023/session/1473651/creating-a-systematic-review-infrastructure-implementing-cochrane-tools-for-students-teachers-researchers-and-clinicians-in-a-university-setting.
Contributors MBjörklund wrote the first draft. All authors contributed to revising the manuscript, figures and table. All authors gave final approval of the version to be published.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests All authors are members of Cochrane.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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