title: Primary health care emergency services in Abha district of southwestern Saudi Arabia.
abstract: To study emergency services delivery in all 30 primary health care centres in Abha district of Asir region, Saudi Arabia, data were collected about equipment and facilities, physicians' practices and attitudes, and patients' utilization of and satisfaction with emergency services. Two centres had no devoted place for emergency services. Lack of some essential equipment and drugs was evident. The greatest continuing medical education need for doctors was the management of cardiovascular emergencies (72.3%). Many doctors (40.4%) did not consider the majority of cases as true emergencies. Many patients (43.7%) used the centres for emergency services, the most common being trauma, burns and orthopaedics (47.8%). Most patients were satisfied overall with emergency services (82.2%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia. mahfouz@kku.edu.sa
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mahfouz
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Abdelmoneim
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Daffalla
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Diab
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: El-Gamal
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Sharif
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000458:organization & administration; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires