Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Joint Program Of family and Community medicine Jeddah

Continuing Medical Education
Utilization and Sources among Primary Health
Care Physicians in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia2010.
Submitted by:
Dr. Sami Al Thubiani, MBBS
Family Medicine Resident
Supervised by:
Dr. Marwan Bakarman, MBBS, FFCM
Consultant Family and Community Medicine
Statistical Advisor:
Dr. Adel Ibrahim, MBBS, MPH
Consultant Community Medicine
A research submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the Saudi Board in Family Medicine

Abstract
Background: in order the medical professionals and physicians become updated on the most recent advances and research findings, continuing medical education (CME) is considered of utmost importance. Whether this concept is perceived and carried out with its deserved importance by our physicians is not well addressed.
Objectives the current study aim at evaluating the utilization of CME among physicians working in Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC) in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia 2010.
Material and subjects Through a cross sectional design and using a pre – designed self administered questionnaire, all physicians working in the primary health care centers in Jeddah Governorate who were available at the time of the study were invited to be enrolled in the study(n=137).
Results Lectures are the most popular source of CME credits for majority of our physicians (90.5%) followed by workshops(67.2%).Meanwhile, it was evident that lectures are significantly more preferred by females while reading medical journals as a mean of CME credits was significantly more preferred by older physicians (aged 30+ years).The overwhelming majority of physicians (93.4%) indicated that they participate in CME activities to improve their medical Knowledge and skills and it was evident that rarity or absence of subscriptions in licensed medical website either at the institute or individual level represented the main obstacle in achieving updated continuing medical education.
Conclusion and recommendations
Our physicians have positive attitude towards CME activities and they are actively participating in the available activities aiming at updating their information. However lack of internet services were constrain their perspiration of continuing medical education at work sites. Therefore, we recommend that medical institutes including primary health care centers should be provided with facilities enabling physicians to access medical sites on the internet.