title: Challenges in the rural family doctor system in Iran in 2013-14: a qualitative approach.
abstract: Family doctor is a medical specialization that provides families and people of all ages, genders and diseases with comprehensive ongoing health services.
  
  
  
  The present study wasconducted to describe challenges in the rural family physician program from the perspective of family physician program directors and family doctors in Iran using a qualitative approach.
  
  
  
  We conducted interviews with 13 family physician program directors and 8 family doctors selected through purposive snowball sampling. The initial in-depth unstructured interviews were reviewed and transformed into semi-structured ones. The data obtained were analyzed in ATLAS.ti using the conceptual framework method.
  
  
  
  Nine main concepts (comprehensive planning, medical insurance system, compensation for services, performance evaluation, welfare facilities, recruiting and retaining a workforce, information system, culture-building and financing) and 27 subgroups emerged from the analysis of the data.
  
  
  
  The main challenges in the family physician program include cultural, economic and environmental factors and work conditions. The implementation of this program can be improved through building a community culture and exercising minor and major modifications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Economic and Management Sciences, Student Research Committee, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Zohreh
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nejatzadegan
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Economic and Management Sciences, Health Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossien
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebrahimipour
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Economic and Management Sciences, Health Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Elaheh
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hooshmand
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Health Information Management Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandarabbas, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Saeed
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Tabatabaee
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Economic and Management Sciences, Health Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Habibollah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Esmaili
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Economic and Management Sciences, Health Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran vafaeea@mums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: vafaeeNajar
mesh_terms: D054521:Cultural Competency; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007492:Iran; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000592:standards*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D000066477:Work Performance; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Challenges; content analysis; family doctor; qualitative approach.