Volume 27, Issue 136, June 2023

A cross-sectional study of medical students' perceptions about family medicine in Saudi Arabia

Futoon Afandy^1♦, Abdullah Khafagy², Razan Alsuayri¹, Alaa Kadah Salim¹, Reem Khan¹, Lena Mahrous¹, Mohammed Shaikh Omer³, Nadeem Ikram⁴

¹Medical Student at Batterjee Medical College for Health Sciences and Technology, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
²Consultant Family & Occupational Medicine, Department of Community Medicine and Pilgrims Health Care, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
³Consultant Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia/Medicine Program, Batterjee Medical College for Health Sciences and Technology, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
⁴Department of Microbiology, Medicine Program, Batterjee Medical College for Health Sciences and Technology, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Medical Student at Batterjee Medical College for Health Sciences and Technology, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
ORCID: 0009-0005-1744-952X

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The main aim of this study is to evaluate the interest and knowledge of medical students about family medicine (FM) in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. The data was collected through a voluntarily filled survey that was distributed among medical students at all universities in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Results: Data were collected from 340 students, with a mean age of 22 ± 1. The majority of respondents (94%) have heard about the FM specialty and only 6 percent haven't heard about it. Most of the participants (79%) stated that they knew the family physician’s role in society. Statistics showed a significant difference between males, females and Saudi and non-Saudi students regarding knowledge about the family physicians’ role in the community. Conclusion: Our qualitative study provided comprehensive information on medical students' knowledge of family medicine. The available data shows that there is good knowledge and perception of FM as a specialty and its role in the community. In general, almost half of the students have the desire to specialize as family physicians, which is consistent with the plans of the country's health system.

Keywords: Cross sectional survey, Jeddah Saudi Arabia, student perception, medical student, family medicine

Medical Science, 2023, 27, e274ms3079

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v27i136/e274ms3079

Published: 26 June 2023