Network professionali ed Evidence-Based Medicine: un’analisi empirica

This study explores the role that professional networks play on the propensity of physicians to adopt evidence-based medicine (EBM) into clinical practices and factors enhancing formation of collaborative networks. We employ social network techniques to analyze networks induced by professional interactions among clinicians belonging to six hospital sites within the Italian NHS. We use ordinal logistic regression to analyze the association between the structural features of physicians' networks and their propensity to use EBM. We then investigate whether the propensity to establish connections with others is related to the homophily between colleagues. Physicians who are highly constrained in their interpersonal networks are less likely to adopt EBM, and homophily between physicians likely influences their propensity to collaborate in clinical activities.