General practitioners' self ratings of skills in evidence based medicine: validation study

Abstract

Fifty general practitioners in Sydney, Australia, completed self administered questionnaires,2 in which they rated their understanding of each of seven terms used in evidence based medicine as “Would not be helpful for me to understand,” “I don't understand but would like to,” “I already have some understanding,” and “I understand this and could explain to others.” We considered the last response to represent full understanding (self rating of competence). Participants sealed their responses in an envelope before participating in a structured interview with JY (who was unaware of their self rating), in which they were asked to explain each term as if to a medical student. Unprompted comments were recorded (see box on bmj.com). The study was approved by the Central Sydney Area Health Service Ethics Review Committee.