Evidence-based health care continuing education seminars improve academic staff knowledge and attitudes in Saudi Arabia

Objective: to assess the influence of a monthly evidence-based health care (ebhc) seminar series on academic staff knowledge, attitudes, and barriers regarding ebhc practice. methodology: all academic staff in the college of applied medical sciences (cams), king saud university, saudi arabia, were sent a validated web-based survey. the survey contained 35 items regarding 3 domains: knowledge (14 items), attitudes (11 items), and barrier factors (10 items). a 5-point likert scale was used and descriptive statistics were generated for demographic data and participants’ responses to each item. results: among academic staff at cams, 79 of 198 (40%) completed the survey. among the survey respondents, 58% had attended at least one ebhc seminar. those who had attended at least one seminar had better knowledge of 8 items compared with those who did not attend any seminars (p < 0.05). academic staff members who attended at least one seminar were more likely to have a positive attitude regarding ebhc. insufficient time was the only factor that significantly differed between the 2 groups, serving as a barrier to ebhc practice. conclusions: our findings suggest that ebhc seminars may improve the abilities and skills of academic staff for using ebhc