The relative high prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics necessitates taking serious steps by health authorities to implement the law of forbidding the sale of antibiotics without prescription.

BACKGROUNDExposure to stressful working conditions without adequate stress-coping strategies may lead to stress and even psychiatric morbidity. There are a dearth of studies on stress-coping strategies among consultant physicians in the Arabian Gulf.OBJECTIVESDetermine stress-coping strategies among consultants in Saudi Arabia and the relationship of strategies to level of stress.DESIGNAnalytical cross-sectional study.SETTINGSConducted between November 2014 and March 2015 among physician consultants registered at the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties.SUBJECTS AND METHODSText messages were used to directly ask consultants to complete an online questionnaire.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURESThe 28-item Brief COPE inventory and the Perceived Stress Scale.SAMPLE SIZE582.RESULTSThe consultants were largely males (71%) and Saudi (56%), and their mean age was 46.9 (7.9) years. Adaptive stress-coping strategies were more frequently used than maladaptive stress-coping strategies (68% versus 49%). Stress levels were positively correlated with maladaptive stress-coping strategies (r=0.41, P<.001) and negatively correlated with adaptive stress-coping strategies (r=-0.09, P=.026). Religion was the most frequently reported stress-coping strategy (79.6%) while alcohol drinking or substance use was the least frequently reported stress-coping strategy (28.0%). Females used both adaptive and maladaptive stress-coping strategies more than males (P=.002 and P<.001, respectively). Stress management education/training was positively associated with frequent use of adaptive stress-coping strategies.CONCLUSIONSPhysician consultants generally cope well with work stressors. Nevertheless, there is still a critical need for stress management programs targeting consultants in order to further improve coping strategies.LIMITATIONSThe low response rate may negatively impact the validity and the generalizability of the current findings. The cross-sectional study design precluded the finding of any causal association.

BackgroundPhysicians experience several work-related stressors that have been mounting up in recent decades. This study aimed to examine perceived stress and its risk factors and consequences among consultant physicians in Saudi Arabia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2014 to March 2015 among physicians who were assigned rank of consultant. The stress level was assessed using perceived stress scale (PSS).ResultsA total of 582 consultants participated. The average age was 46.9±7.9 years, 71% were males, 56% were Saudi, 15% were smokers, and 68% slept ≤6 hours per night. The median PSS score was 17 (interquartile range of 14–21), which represented 44% of maximum possible PSS score. The upper tertile of PSS score (represents a high stress level) was significantly associated with being younger, female, and Saudi. The majority (85%) considered job environment to be stressful and ~50% attributed that to a high workload and a noncooperative administration. In the year preceding this study, half of consultants frequently contemplated or even worked toward changing their medical institutes or even moving to work outside Saudi Arabia because of perception of a stressful working environment. Over the previous year, encountering life stressors, considering job environment as stressful and experiencing passive suicidal ideation, were significantly associated with higher levels of stress. In multivariate analysis, the following factors were independently associated with stress: female gender (odds ratio [OR]=2.41, 95% CI 1.58–3.70) and perceived stressful working environment (OR=3.66, 95% CI 1.87–7.17).ConclusionConsultant physicians in Saudi Arabia experience moderate to high levels of perceived stress that are relatively comparable to physicians worldwide. A significant association was found between stress levels and both female gender and perception of a stressful working environment. Further studies are required to assess physician-based interventions and organization-directed approaches to management of stress among physicians.