Teaching Evidence Based Medicine to Fourth Year Medical Students at Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, Malaysia

Background: Recently many medical schools have incorporated Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) as part of their undergraduate teaching. The aim is to provide a firm base of EBM to the medical students early on, so that they can understand the importance of EBM. Medical schools are encouraged to teach EBM to students but yet the education setting, learner level, modes of instruction, skills covered and teaching methods are not standardised and varies worldwide. In Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences (CUCMS), EBM was incorporated in the curriculum since 2009. EBM concepts was taught formally to the MBBS students during four weeks Research and Evidence Based Medicine Course (REBM). Students were exposed to the various thinking processes, formulation of clinical questions, searching evidence, intermediate biostatistics, research methodology and critical appraisal. Besides that, Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and research proposal development also include in the course. The objective of this paper is to describe CUCMS experience of teaching EBM for undergraduate medical students. Methods: This report analysed students feedback using a questionnaire which included a Likert scale and open-ended questions. Result: Overall, three batches of students gave positive feedbacks regarding the course with constructive suggestions on room for improvement. Conclusion: From our first three years’ experience in conducting the course, we concluded that the four-week EBM course offered was practical in instilling EBM principles.