Evidence-based Medicine: Perceptions, Attitudes, and Skills Among European Urology Residents

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) was introduced as a concept in the early 1990s as an integration of the best available evidence with clinical expertise and patient values. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the current status of EBM training and EBM perception, attitudes, and self-perceived skills among European urology residents. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Our online open survey comprised 28 multiple-choice items, including ten questions with responses on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The survey was distributed via the mailing lists and social media accounts of the European Society of Residents in Urology, German Society of Residents in Urology, French Society of Urologists in Training, Spanish Urology Residents Working Group, Italian Society of Residents in Urology, and the Urology Social Media Working Group in two rounds (May–July 2019 and July 2020). We excluded responses from non-European countries. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The online open survey comprised 28 multiple-choice items. These included ten questions with answers on a five-point Likert scale with response items ranging from strongly disagree (score of 1) to strongly agree (score of 5). RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: We received 210 responses, of which 181 from 23 European countries were eligible. Approximately three-quarters (73.7%) of the respondents were male, with a mean age of 31 yr. Only 28.2% reported EBM training as part of their urology curriculum and 19.3% felt that the training they received was sufficient to guide their daily practice. An overwhelming majority (91.5%) stated that they would be interested in more formalized EBM training or additional training. There was a strong level of agreement (median score 5, interquartile range 4–5) that EBM is important for daily medical and surgical practice and that it improves patient care. Overall, the mean self-perceived understanding of basic EBM concepts was good. Limitations include concerns about generalizability given its internet-based format, the inability to calculate a response rate, poor representation from some European regions, and limited sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Our survey suggests that European urology residents receive a limited amount of EBM training despite considerable appreciation, interest, and self-perceived deficits for more advanced concepts. Formal integration of EBM teaching in all European residency programs should be considered. PATIENT SUMMARY: We performed an online survey of urology residents in Europe. We found that residents have positive perceptions of and attitudes to evidence-based medicine but most programs lack formal training in this area.