DOES THE MANAGEMENT OF BRONCHIAL ASTHMA BY FAMILY PHYSICIANS MEET STANDARDS OF THE NATIONAL PROTOCOL?

OBJECTIVES: Asthma is a common disease that is sometimes fatal. Its prevalence, morbidity and mortality are increasing. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the proficiency of primary care physicians in general knowledge, diagnosis, classification of severity and management of asthma along the guidelines of the Saudi National Asthma Protocol, and to analyze the association of their proficiency level with certain professional standards. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Family Medicine and the Main Air Base Clinic at the North-West Armed Forces Hospital in Tabuk City, Saudi Arabia from the 1(st) to the 29(th) of June 2001. All 44 primary care physicians working there at the time were enrolled in the study. A self-administered true/false questionnaire prepared by the Saudi National Asthma Scientific Committee was completed by all physicians. The Passing score was ≥ 50%. RESULTS: Only 39% of the physicians passed the test as a whole, with 66% passed in general knowledge, 70% in diagnosis, 48% in the classification of severity and 59% in the management of asthma. There was an association between significant achievement and Family Medicine Board Certification as well as some knowledge of the National Asthma Protocol (p ≥ 0.05). No association was observed with attendance of asthma training courses. There was positive significant correlation between the knowledge score, the management scores and the total scores of physicians. CONCLUSION: The level of awareness of the National Asthma Protocol among the primary care physicians was low (52%). Their proficiency in general knowledge, diagnosis, classification of severity and management was also low. A higher standard was associated with Family Medicine Board Certification. Further studies to identify the reasons for these deficiencies need to be carried out so that measures could be taken to rectify the situation.