Public's perception and satisfaction on the role and services provided by family physicians in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Few studies have addressed the awareness of the family physicians’ (FPs) role and its impact on the quality of primary healthcare. This study aims to explore public's perception and satisfaction on the role and services provided by FPs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: An online survey was conducted using a convenience sample of 830 participants age 18 years and above from Jazan region, KSA. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS including descriptive studies and Chi-square or Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: A total of 830 valid responses were analyzed, of which 55.1% were females. The median age of respondents was 32.5 years (range 18–75 years). Most of the respondents (90.2%) did not have a regular FP. A considerable proportion of the participants were aware of the principles (81.2%) and essential role of family medicine (73.3%), health conditions that FPs can treat (59.9%), and conditions they do not treat (n = 622, 74.9%). The majority agreed on the value of involving FPs in their care (76.7%), the priority of FPs in the action of health-seeking (58.9%), and the sufficiency of FPs’ expertise (55.5%). However, only 28.3% had a positive experience with FPs. In addition, 59.8% preferred to first seek healthcare from specialists from other specialties. CONCLUSION: In general, participants in this study had good perception of the role of FPs as important components in the healthcare system. However, there may be some gaps in the physician–patient communication which may contribute to the dissatisfaction reported by most of the present sample.