Are Family Medicine Residents Using Journals Pertinent to Their Discipline in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia?

Abstract

Background: Today's clinicians have to adapt to rapidly changing medical environment and information overload. It has also been observed that family medicine residents study articles from journals of other specialties for updating their clinical knowledge base. The objective of this study was to determine the family medicine resident’s journal selection preferences in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Materials & Methods: This descriptive study was conducted from Dec 2018-May 2019 at Department of Family & Community Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Our population included 265 family medicine residents, taken as sample. After pilot testing, a confidential but anonymous questionnaire was mailed to 265 residents. Sex, age groups, training site were demographic, while choice of family medicine journals, selection of articles, patterns of educational activities and reasons for choosing specific journal were research variables. All data was categorical and was described as count and percentage with 95%CI. Results: The questionnaire response rate was 45.28% (120/265). Out of 120, 51 (42.5%) were men and 69 (57.5%) women. 84% belonged to age group 25-30 years. Most residents 55 (46.2%) were from Ministry of Health Centers. American Family Physician journal was most frequently accessed (94.16%), whereas Annals of Family Medicine was least accessed (15.83%). Journals selection criteria were based on EBM (45.43%) in most cases, while it was based on Institute for Scientific Information in 0.83% cases. Most (76.66%) residents were utilizing case study, while minimum (18.33%) residents were using journal club as learning tool. Majority of residents were choosing journals based on suggestions by colleagues (54.16%), while minimum by medical representatives (22.50%). Conclusion: The awareness of family practice journals that can make a family medicine resident think as a family physician was very low. By reading the high-quality family medicine journals they can learn to develop a family physicians’ approach which they can apply to the person rather than the disease alone. Supportive mentorship and guidance from a devoted faculty mentors should ensure the maintenance of this approach and should be maintained throughout the residency years.