EVIDENCE – BASED MEDICINE AND EVIDENCE – BASED MIDWIFERY PRACTICE – KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES OF STUDENTS OF MIDWIFERY

Background:
The awareness of benefits resulting from using the latest research findings in professional midwifery practice is a necessary condition to ensure safe and meeting the highest standards of quality obstetric care. It is extremely important to encourage midwifery students to widen their knowledge and improve the competencies related to methodology of research and critical analysis of scientific literature.

Aim:
The aim of the study was to analyze the knowledge and attitudes of midwifery students towards Evidence - based Medicine (EBM) and Evidence-based Midwifery Practice (EBMP) depending on their professional activity.

Material and methods:
116 students of Master’s studies in Midwifery at the Medical University of Warsaw (1 man), 67 students did not work professionally, 49 took up the employment as a midwife. The mean age of the study group: 26.37 years (min. 22, max. 50, SD = 6.53); 72% attended full-time studies, 50% studied the first year. 38% obtained a Bachelor’s degree in midwifery in 2012. Evidence - Based Practice Questionnaire Profile from the University of South Australia, quantitative analysis of test results. Statistical analysis, non-parametric tests: U Mann-Whitney test and chi2 test, STATISTICA version 10.0.

Results:
Midwifery students not working as a midwife demonstrated an increased awareness of the existence, meaning and development of EBMP (medians 15 versus 16, U Mann-Whitney test, p=0.049) and higher level of knowledge about the EBP terminology: 21 students not working as a midwife declared the understanding of the term systematic review and a partial understanding of publication bias (U Mann-Whitney test, p = 0.034 and p = 0.011). Significantly more students who does not work as midwives (n=35) declared that have formulated a clearly answerable question that defines the client or problem, the intervention and outcome(s) of interest once a month (U Mann-Whitney test, p = 0.022) .

Conclusion:
1. In both compared groups the level of knowledge about Evidence - based Practice is insufficient and requires urgent supplementation of students’ knowledge and skills in this area.
2. Students not working as midwives had higher level of knowledge about EBP than the studied group of students working in their profession.
3. Further training are recommended to improve the knowledge of midwives about the use of EBP in daily clinical work and the improvement of skills in the methodology of scientific research.
4. There is a need for constant update of midwives’ knowledge about the use of the latest research results in professional practice.