Utilisation of research evidence in clinical practice to improve health care delivery- practices, attitudes and challenges faced by physiotherapists in Zimbabwe: a descriptive cross sectional study

Abstract

Background: Decision-making in health care delivery should be based on the best available current, valid and relevant evidence. Healthcare professionals should therefore be well versed with the skills required to make evidence based clinical decisions in patient care. The aims of this study were to investigate the attitudes of physiotherapists towards utilisation of evidence-based practice (EBP) during patient care, identify barriers to the use of EBP and strategies to improve utilisation of EBP. Method: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted using a survey questionnaire. Fifty five questionnaires were administered to randomly selected physiotherapists, working in either private or public hospitals in Zimbabwe. The questionnaire collected information on demographics, utilisation of EBP, factors affecting use of EBP and recommendations. Results: The response rate was 91 % (n = 50). Majority of respondents (n = 30; 60.0 %) were female, mean age of respondents was 36.4 years (SD = 9.8) and median years of experience was 8.5 (IQR = 5–15). A positive attitude towards EBP was displayed by 18 of 31 respondents (58.1 %) from private hospitals and 14 of 19 respondents (73.4 %) from public hospitals. All participants indicated that the knowledge obtained through undergraduate training was their major source of evidence-based information whilst a combined 19 respondents (38.0 %) indicated reading of journals and carrying out research as their main source of evidence. Lack of time was indicated as the major factor influencing utilisation of EBP by respondents. Limited access to online information was reported by 15 of 19 respondents from public hospitals (78.9 %) to be a major factor affecting their EBP. Respondents recommended training for physiotherapists to improve their skills in critical evaluation of research as a way to promote EBP and highlighted the need for organisational support to facilitate access to online sources of EBP in the clinical environment. Conclusion: Physiotherapists in Zimbabwe seem to rely on knowledge obtained from undergraduate training to guide them in patient care with a few highlighting the importance of research activities to guide clinical practice and their involvement in them. There is need to for physiotherapists to make time to acquire information on evidence based treatment methods in order to improve the quality of clinical practice and ultimately the standard of health care delivery.