Continuing medical education in primary health care in Saudi Arabia: an epidemiologic study of physicians' needs in the Asir region.

Overview

A cross sectional survey was carried out among doctors working in all the 238 Primary Health Care Centers in the Asir Region, Southwestern Saudi Arabia using self administered questionnaire. The response rate was 90.1%. The highly needed aspects of clinical practice include emergency skills (82.3%), diagnostic skills (74.4%) and management of common diseases (65.2%). Aspects that rated low include physical examination techniques, prescription skills, history taking and referral. Areas in medicine that rated high on the doctors' list of needs include critical care (60.7%), obstetrics and gynecology (52.7%) and family and community medicine (52.8%). The most highly preferred means of fulfilling these needs include clinical rounds (73.2%), consultation with specialists (69.8%) and regular lectures (62.5%). The objective of establishing baseline data which are essential for future continuing medical education (CME) planning in the Asir region was achieved in this study. Based on the doctors needs, it was recommended that regional CME units be established and related organizations and institutions that will jointly plan a program of CME be identified.