• Rana Abu Farha, Eman Alefishat, Maysa Suyagh, Eman Elayeh, and Amal Mayyas.
• Department of Biopharmaceutics and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
• J Eval Clin Pract. 2014 Dec 1; 20 (6): 786-92.

Rationale, Aims And ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the awareness, attitude, knowledge and use of evidence-based medicine (EBM) among pharmacists in Jordan.MethodsA cross-sectional self-reported survey was conducted on 122 pharmacists (both hospital and community) who were asked to fill a validated structured questionnaire.ResultsThe participants showed a positive attitude towards EBM; more than 80% thought that EBM improves patient care, improves quick knowledge update, helps to unify the quality of care provided, is a good educational tool and a convenient source of advice. But despite this positive attitude, pharmacists showed partial understanding of the technical terms used in EBM; also they relied on their own judgment, medical representatives and standard textbooks in making their decision, resources that can no longer be considered sufficiently updated and/or evidence based. Patient overload, lack of personal time and limited access to EBM sources were the most commonly identified barrier to practicing EBM. Also this study suggest that pharmacist's experience is negatively associated with EBM knowledge score (Spearman's rho value -0.187, P-value 0.04).ConclusionsIn spite of the positive attitude towards EBM, this study showed numerous personal and institutional barriers towards implementing EBM in Jordan, which necessitate immediate action by all health care decision makers to formulate a national plan to overcome such barriers, and to further investigate the evidence that teaching, learning and daily application of EBM in practice can improve the quality of care and reduce the cost.© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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