Primary health care physicians' knowledge and adherence regarding hypertension management guidelines in southwest of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

To measure Primary Health Care physicians’ knowledge of and adherence to the Saudi Hypertension Management Guidelines (SHMGs) in Southwest of Saudi Arabia.This study was a cross-sectional investigation where data was collected via a self-administered questionnaire. The demographics of the physicians, data related to the source of the guidelines for hypertension management, knowledge about the SHMGs and physicians’ adherence to the SHMG were collected. Student's t test was used to assess the presence of any statistical difference between the level of knowledge and adherence according to the study's measured variables.A total of 316 physicians participated in this investigation, representing 65% of all the PHC physicians in the Jazan region. The number of correct answers measuring knowledge about various topics varied between 18% and 94% with a mean overall score of 7.9/16. The number of reported practices adherent to the guidelines varied between 2% and 97%, and the mean overall score was 7.2/11. Receiving hypertension management guidelines from the Directory of Health was statistically associated with a higher level of knowledge (P value < .05). Undergoing clinical training for hypertension management and seeing fewer numbers of patients on a daily basis was associated with a statistically higher level of adherence to the guidelines (P value < .05).Improper distribution of guidelines, lack of continuous clinical training, negative attitude of physicians toward guidelines and large number of patients seen by physicians are likely to hinder translating guidelines to actual clinical practice.