Abstract
Background:
Healthcare practitioners' daily practices may be enhanced by incorporating evidence-based practice (EBP), which could potentially contribute to better patient outcomes. It is essential for respiratory therapists (RTs) to build their body of knowledge, standardize practice, and improve patient outcomes. This study intends to investigate the EBP beliefs and practices of RT students, as well as the changes in these views and practices caused by earlier EBP training and the implied relationships between them.
Methods:
A cross-sectional survey design was used with a convenience sample of 171 RT students from two public universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Students were asked to answer the questions in the Evidence-Based Practice Belief and Implementation scales. The Declaration of Helsinki's ethical guidelines were followed when conducting the study.
Results:
This study revealed that the mean total belief score among the students were 62.04 out of 80 (SD = 11.94). They did, however, observe an implementation score of 29.74 out of 72 (SD = 12.05), which is substantially lower. Students who received EBP training or received neither reported that their overall belief score did not differ much. However, there was a considerable difference in between both groups' total implementation scores. Finally, even though there was no significant correlation between the two groups' belief ratings (P > .05), there was a substantial correlation between their implementation scores (P < .05).
Conclusions:
Teaching RT students how to access, evaluate, and appropriately apply evidence-based knowledge is crucial for advancing the science of respiratory therapy, improving practice for aspiring RTs, and improving patient outcomes.
* Significant at 95%
View all access options for this article.Table 1. Independent sample t test between students who received EBP training and who did not receive EBP training in terms of beliefs and implementation of EBP (N= 171)
Have you received any previous Evidence-Based Practice training in the Respiratory Care research course?
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
T-test
P-value
Beliefs
Yes
92
62.0435
11.9411
0.04
0.97
No
79
62.1013
09.5737
Implementation
Yes
92
29.2717
12.0594
2.39
0.02
No
79
24.6203
13.3784
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