ABSTRACT
The attitude and beliefs of primary health care physicians regarding periodic health evaluation is critical to determining the most effective and acceptable means for delivering recommended clinical preventive services. We aimed to evaluate the views of primary health care physicians in Saudi Arabia on periodic health evaluation. A self-administered and pre-tested questionnaire was sent to 1235 physicians randomly selected throughout the country. About 90% of the physicians would recommend periodic health evaluations to all or some clients while 10% would not. Almost all (95%) of the physicians were aware of the benefits and costs of periodic health examinations, and were willing to carry it out. Their enthusiasm for performing many items during examinations should be encouraged.
Subject(s)
Attitude of Health Personnel , Mass Screening/methods , Physicians, Family/psychology , Primary Health Care/methods , Primary Prevention/methods , Adult , Community Health Centers , Female , Health Education/economics , Health Education/methods , Health Education/standards , Humans , Male , Mass Screening/economics , Mass Screening/standards , Middle Aged , Needs Assessment , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Primary Health Care/economics , Primary Health Care/standards , Primary Prevention/economics , Primary Prevention/standards , Saudi Arabia , Socioeconomic Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess the perception and satisfaction of primary health care (PHC) trainees regarding their hospital training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted by means of a self-administered questionnaire distributed to the trainees who had finished Medicine and/or Pediatrics rotation in 4 PHC training centers in Riyadh, Al-Khobar, Jeddah and Al-Medina during January 1996. RESULTS: Trainees were more satisfied with the Pediatric rotation than the Internal Medicine rotation. Significant relationship (p<0.05) was found between trainee satisfaction in Internal Medicine rotation and both the quality of training and the relevance of training to the needs of PHC trainees. On the other hand, in Pediatrics, the only variable which was related significantly to the trainees' satisfaction was the duration of the rotation, which was found to be sufficient (p<0.05). Trainees' dissatisfaction with the rotation was due to many factors, such as the imbalance between service work and educational sessions and the lack of awareness of other specialists about PHC as a career. CONCLUSION: Attention and effort should be directed towards the improvement of hospital training through a close collaboration between the decision-makers for PHC training and the hospital consultants. Also the needs of trainees should be taken into account during planning of hospital training.
ABSTRACT
The attitude and beliefs of primary health care physicians regarding periodic health evaluation is critical to determining the most effective and acceptable means for delivering recommended clinical preventive services. We aimed to evaluate the views of primary health care physicians in Saudi Arabia on periodic health evaluation. A self-administered and pre-tested questionnaire was sent to 1235 physicians randomly selected throughout the country. About 90% of the physicians would recommend periodic health evaluations to all or some clients while 10% would not. Almost all [95%] of the physicians were aware of the benefits and costs of periodic health examinations, and were willing to carry it out. Their enthusiasm for performing many items during examinations should be encouraged
Subject(s)
Preventive Medicine , Physicians, Family , Primary Health Care , Attitude of Health Personnel , Preventive Health ServicesABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To identify the career choices, intended practice locations, and reasons for career choices of final-year Saudi medical students. METHOD: A total of 302 final-year students at the four Saudi medical colleges were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire at the end of the 1994 academic year. RESULTS: A total of 253 students (84%) responded (149 men and 104 women). The most frequently chosen specialties were internal medicine (17%), surgery (16%), pediatrics (14%), and obstetrics-gynecology (11%). Twenty-seven percent were not sure of their future career choices. More of the men chose surgery, but more of the women chose obstetrics-gynecology and ophthalmology. The leading reasons for selecting a specialty were "personal interest," "a chance to help people," "availability of postgraduate training," "few specialists in the country," and "prestige." The most frequently chosen locations for postgraduate training were Saudi Arabia (56%) and Canada (40%). The qualifying examinations the students wished to pass were mostly the Canadian boards (49%) and the Arab boards (48%). A majority intended to practice in hospitals (90%) and in cities (85%). CONCLUSION: The small proportions of students who chose family medicine and some other specialties indicate that the current drastic deficiency of trained Saudi primary health care physicians will continue unless targeted strategies to produce more of these physicians are undertaken.
