69 Evidence-based medicine teaching in medical schools in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region

ObjectivesTo determine current status of evidence-based medicine (EBM) teaching in medical schools in the MENA region, and make recommendations for improvements in EBM educational infrastructure in medical schools in the region.MethodWe developed a modified version of a published survey instrument to assess EBM teaching on the undergraduate and post-graduate levels in medical schools in the MENA region. The adapted surveys will be piloted with several medical schools, revised, then sent by email to school deans, department chairs, or full-time faculty members to complete the surveys and provide outline of their EBM curriculum. To increase the response rate, follow-up emails will be sent to non-responders two weeks after the first email. We shall offer a second round of survey administration and/or personally contact the remaining non-respondents. Survey sections include the availability of taught EBM course(s), content and topics covered, format of teaching, persons involved in teaching, problems and future plans. The study was approved by the institutional Scientific Medical Advisory Committee (SMAC).ResultsThe online surveys will be sent to 89 medical schools in 12 countries in the MENA region including; Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates. Minimum response rate accepted is 30-40% of total number of medical schools included. Study results will be available for presentation at the conference.ConclusionsDetermining the current situation of EBM teaching in medical schools in the MENA region will help make recommendations to address any challenges in EBM teaching and inform the strategies of medical schools in the region regarding EBM training and teaching.