title: Continuing medical education as a national strategy to improve access to primary care in Saudi Arabia.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of an educational program in family medicine for general practitioners in Saudi Arabia from 2009 to 2011. A continuing medical education program called Family Medicine Education (FAME) was developed with 7 modules each consisting of 12-14 hours of teaching to be delivered in 3 day blocks, over 45 days. Twenty percent (2,761) of all general practitioners participated in the FAME program. Initial assessment of the program showed significant improvement of knowledge from scores of 49% on a pre-test to 89% on post-tests. FAME program in Saudi Arabia facilitated primary care physicians' knowledge.
authors.affiliation: King Saud Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Sami Ayed
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Alshammary
authors.forename: Savithiri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ratnapalan
authors.forename: Zekeriya
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Akturk
keywords: Continuing medical education; Family medicine; Implementation; Physician education; Primary care