major medical ethical challenges facing the public and healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia

Despite the relatively high expenditure on healthcare in Saudi Arabia, its health system remains highly centralized in the main cities with its primary focus on secondary and tertiary care rather than primary care. This had led to numerous ethical challenges for the healthcare providers. This article reports the results of a study conducted with a panel of practitioners, and non-clinicians, in Saudi Arabia, in order to identify the top ten ethical challenges for healthcare providers, patients, and their families. The study design was a cross-sectional, descriptive, and qualitative one. The participants were asked the question: "What top ten ethical challenges are Saudis likely to face in health care?" The participants were asked to rand the top ten ethical challenges throughout a modified Delphi process, using a ranking Scale. A consensus was reached after three rounds of questions and an experts' meeting. The major 10 ethical, issues, as perceived by the participants in order of their importance, were: [1] Patients' Rights, [2] Equity of resources, [3] Confidentiality of the patients, [4] Patient Safety, [5] Conflict of Interests, [6] Ethics of privatization, [7] Informed Consent, [8] Dealing with the opposite sex, [9] Beginning and end of life, and [10] Healthcare team ethics. Although many of the challenges listed by the participants have received significant public and specialized attention worldwide, scant attention has been paid to these top challenges in Saudi Arabia. We propose several possible steps to help address these key challenges

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome among a noring community

To evaluate the relation between snoring and the presence of obstructive sleep apnea [OSA] in terms of relevant health parameters and questionnaire responses. Selective random sampling within a household survey in the cities of Al-Khobar and Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over a 3 month period during the year 2000, was carried out. One hundred and fifty-two persons, aged 17-62 years, with a positive history of snoring as determined by the spouse or other members of the family were selected. The presence of OSA was determined using the Epworth sleepiness scale [ESS]. The predictors included age, gender and body mass index. Snoring was found to be more associated with OSA as suggested by ESS in the study sample. The severity of snoring and its pattern are more associated with apneic patients. Snoring is common and may be a serious medical problem. This study revealed that snoring is associated with symptoms suggesting OSA syndrome as detected by ESS. The family doctor and his team should be aware of the condition, using simple screening test such as ESS, improves the patient care, and finding of suspected cases