Screening of depression among patients in Family Medicine in Southeastern Saudi Arabia

To determine the prevalence rate of depression and its relationship with patients' socio-demographic characteristics and chronic diseases. This cross sectional study was performed at the Family Medicine Department, Sharurah Armed Forces Hospital [SAFH], Sharurah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two hundred and eighty adult subjects were randomly selected. Patient Health Outcomes-9 Symptom Checklist was used for screening of depression in each participant. Also, information on socio-demographic characteristics and chronic diseases was collected. The field work was conducted between December 2010 to January 2011 and the study was completed in March 2011. Out of the 280 patients, 272 responded to the questionnaires with a response rate of 97%. The total number of males was 116 [42.6%] and females was 156 [57.4%]. Depression was diagnosed in 12% [n=33] of screened population. Out of 33 depressed patients, 7 [21%] had minimal depression, 18 [55%] suffered from mild depression, 3 [9%] with moderate depression, 3 [9%] with moderately severe depression, and 2 [6%] with severe depression. The subjects who were living in a room were 4.8 times more likely to suffer from depression than subjects who stayed in a flat or villa. Also, employees were 1.7 times more prone to depression than non-working subjects. Depression is a common health problem among primary health care patients. Primary health care physicians should be the cornerstone in screening for an underlying depressive disorder and initiating appropriate referral or treatment

Patterns of referral in the family medicine department in southeastern Saudi Arabia

To assess the referral pattern and identify the appropriateness of the referral letter and consultant's feedback. This cross-sectional study was performed at the Family Medicine Department, Sharurah Armed Forces Hospital [SAFH], Sharurah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study population [sampled population] included all referrals in one month [June 2009]. We obtained the appropriateness of the referral letter, consultants' feedback, and patients and physician's characteristics using research tools. The fieldwork was conducted during the period of August to September 2009 and the study was completed in January 2010. Overall, the referral rates was 16%. The percentage of referred male patients were 40.5% [n=183] and females were 59.5% [n=269]. The variables of the administrative part of the referral letter [such as age, gender of the referred patient] were present and clear [readable] in most of the patients. Also, the scores of different administrative items of the referral letter were higher [>/= 95%] than the clinical items [such as history taking and physical examination]. Inappropriate consultant feedbacks [53%] were significantly higher than inappropriate primary health care referral letters [12%] [p=0.008]. The results of this study suggest that the quality standard of referral process needs to be improved as the received referrals letters and feedback reports were poor