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%).
MeSH terms
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Adolescent
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Adult
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Aged
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Aged, 80 and over
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Analysis of Variance
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Attitude of Health Personnel*
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Chi-Square Distribution
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Continuity of Patient Care
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Education, Medical, Continuing
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Emergency Medical Services / organization & administration*
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Emergency Medicine / education
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Emergency Medicine / organization & administration
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Female
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Health Care Surveys
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Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
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Health Services Accessibility
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Health Services Needs and Demand
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Humans
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Male
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Middle Aged
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Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care
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Patient Satisfaction*
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Physicians, Family / education
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Physicians, Family / organization & administration
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Physicians, Family / psychology*
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Practice Patterns, Physicians' / organization & administration
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Primary Health Care / organization & administration*
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Saudi Arabia
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Statistics, Nonparametric
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Surveys and Questionnaires