%0 Journal Article
%@ 1929-073X
%I JMIR Publications
%V 7
%N 2
%P e16
%T Importance and Presence of High-Quality Evidence for Clinical Decisions in Neurosurgery: International Survey of Neurosurgeons
%A Martens,Jill
%A de Jong,Guido
%A Rovers,Maroeska
%A Westert,Gert
%A Bartels,Ronald
%+ Neurosurgical Center Nijmegen, Department of Neurosurgery, Radboud University Medical Center, Department of Neurosurgery, huispost 636, Postbus 9101, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, Netherlands, 31 681557132, jill.martens@radboudumc.nl
%K evidence-based medicine
%K neurosurgery
%K levels of evidence
%D 2018
%7 12.10.2018
%9 Original Paper
%J Interact J Med Res
%G English
%X Background: The publication rate of neurosurgical guidelines has increased tremendously over the past decade; however, only a small proportion of clinical decisions appear to be based on high-quality evidence. Objective: The aim was to evaluate the evidence available within neurosurgery and its value within clinical practice according to neurosurgeons. Methods: A Web-based survey was sent to 2552 neurosurgeons, who were members of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies. Results: The response rate to the survey was 6.78% (173/2552). According to 48.6% (84/173) of the respondents, neurosurgery clinical practices are based on less evidence than other medical specialties and not enough high-quality evidence is available; however, 84.4% (146/173) of the respondents believed neurosurgery is amenable to evidence. Of the respondents, 59.0% (102/173) considered the neurosurgical guidelines in their hospital to be based on high-quality evidence, most of whom considered their own treatments to be based on high-quality (level I and/or level II) data (84.3%, 86/102; significantly more than for the neurosurgeons who did not consider the hospital guidelines to be based on high-quality evidence: 55%, 12/22; P<.001). Also, more neurosurgeons with formal training believed they could understand, criticize, and interpret statistical outcomes presented in journals than those without formal training (93%, 56/60 and  68%, 57/84 respectively; P<.001). Conclusions: According to the respondents, neurosurgery is based on high-quality evidence less often than other medical specialties. The results of the survey indicate that formal training in evidence-based medicine would enable neurosurgeons to better understand, criticize, and interpret statistical outcomes presented in journals. 
%M 30314961
%R 10.2196/ijmr.9617
%U http://www.i-jmr.org/2018/2/e16/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/ijmr.9617
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30314961