UTILIZATION OF LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS: STUDY OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE AMONG PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to assess the physicians’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards laboratory services in the primary health care (PHC) centers at Al-Khobar area. METHODOLOGY: Five primary health care centers were selected out of 9 (56%) from the Al-Khobar area. Twenty physicians (33%), in these primary health care centers were included. A questionnaire was given to all physicians to explore the knowledge, attitude and practice. RESULTS: All physicians considered laboratory investigations an essential service that contributed to the management of their patients most of the time. Knowledge and practice of most (80% of them) regarding laboratory investigations was between fair to good but the attitude of 80% of them was poor since postgraduation experience was the only factor which influenced their practice. CONCLUSIONS: There has been an increase in number of Saudi physicians working in the Primary Health Care Centers. The quality of the current laboratory services was deficient according to 30% of physicians. They considered that investigations were essential for primary health care centers. And finally the utilization of laboratory tests in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was higher than many developing countries.