KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICE OF GERIATRICS AMONG PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE DOCTORS IN BURRAIDAH, SAUDI-ARABIA

Objective: To document the pattern of knowledge, attitudes and practic es of primary health care center doctors about geriatrics. Design: A c ross-sectional, knowledge, attitudes and practice study carried out on a sample of primary health care center doctors. Setting: The primary health care centers in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: Sixty -three doctors (75% of the total) were requested to complete a self-ad ministered questionnaire. Demographic and professional information wer e collected, in addition to responses to 29 geriatrics' knowledge, 24 attitudes, and 12 practice questions. A cut-off point of 60.0% of corr ect responses was considered as satisfactory. The questionnaire reliab ility was 51.5%. Results: Doctors who had satisfactory overall geriatr ic knowledge, attitudes and practice amounted to 73.0%, 92.1% and 22.2 %, respectively. Satisfactory attitudes towards home visits for the ge riatrics' care was shown by 65.1% of doctors. Less than half the docto rs had satisfactory practices regarding performance of screening tests for the elderly, performance of patients' social assessment, and invo lvement in treatment of common diseases of the elderly. Conclusions: T here are significant weaknesses in the area of geriatric care by prima ry health care doctors in Saudi Arabia which call for conduction of ge riatric care training programs.