A systematic review on the instrument for evaluating evidence-based practice competency

Objective To describe, appraise and summarize currently available evaluating evidence-based practice (EBP) competency evaluation instruments for appraising evidence-based medicine (EBM) teaching and training outcomes. Methods We searched the Pubmed, CBMdisc, CNKI and Web of science to select the literatures published between April, 2011 and April, 2016 regarding the instrument for evaluating evidence-based practice competency.Two professors of General Practice assessed independently all titles, abstracts, full texts and abstracted data.The studies involving EBP competency evaluation instruments and analysis on its validity and reliability were included. Results Total 15 articles were selected, including 9 studies describing the development of tools, and 6 tested and verified the tools through EBM interventions.These 6 studies reported that knowledge scores had been increased significantly after the intervention. Conclusions Construct validity and internal reliability are the most common assessment items when making scale.Instruments with reasonable validity are available for evaluating some domains of EBP (5 steps of EBP) and may be targeted to different evaluation needs.The Fresno test has been proved the best documentation of validity and reliability and psychometric properties, it evaluates the first four steps, and is the best candidate for evaluating Chinese general practitioners EBM competency.