Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions  2013;10(1):7-

Continuing medical education as a national strategy to improve access to primary care in Saudi Arabia.

Sami Ayed ALSHAMMARY 1 ; Savithiri RATNAPALAN ; Zekeriya AKTURK

Affiliations

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Keywords

Primary care; Family medicine; Continuing medical education; Implementation; Physician education

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

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.