Preparing medical students to incorporate scientific evidence into patient care: A cross-sectional study

Susanna M Wallerstedt, Martin Garwicz, Pontus Henriksson, Karin Mossberg, Estelle Naumburg, Jeanette Wahlberg and Riitta Möller

PLOS ONE, 2025, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: Objective: To explore teaching- and assessment-related factors that predict medical students’ perceived attainment of sufficient skills to incorporate scientific evidence into patient care. Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to final-semester students in six medical programs in Sweden. The students were asked to rate statements concerning the extent to which 11 national degree outcomes related to the scientific basis of medicine (scholarly degree outcomes) had been adequately assessed during the program; their perceived preparedness for evidence-based patient care; and training during the program regarding the components of a systematic review/health technology assessment (HTA). Results: In total, 433 students (median age: 25 years [interquartile range: 24‒28], 59% female) participated in the study (response rate: 68%). A multivariate analysis indicated that experienced adequate assessment on a single scholarly degree outcome (i.e., “Demonstrate knowledge of the scientific foundation of medicine and insight into current research as well as knowledge of the link between science and proven experience”) predicted the students’ perception of having developed sufficient skills in incorporating scientific evidence into patient care (odds ratio: 6.17 [95% confidence interval: 3.10; 12.3]). The educational content predictors of this perception included the teaching of HTA (11.3 [1.44; 89.5]) and training regarding two components of a systematic review/HTA: appraising scientific articles using checklists (2.46 [1.23; 4.90]) and assessing organizational aspects related to the introduction/withdrawal of a health technology (2.65 [1.05; 6.67]). The presence of hands-on, credit-bearing, evidence-based medicine (EBM)-related learning activities during clinical courses was also predictive (4.68 [1.69; 13.0]). Conclusions: This study highlights important educational activities that prepare medical students to incorporate scientific evidence into patient care: (i) adequate assessment of key content regarding scholarly outcomes, including the scientific foundation of medicine; (ii) learning activities about HTA and the systematic review process; and (iii) hands-on application of EBM-related learning activities integrated into clinical courses.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0321211 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 21211&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0321211

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321211

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().