QUALITY OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE SYSTEM AND SERVICE IN SAUDI ARABIA

Little is known about the quality of primary care in Saudi Arabia, despite the central role of primary care centers in Saudi health strategy. Good access and effective care were reported for certain services including: immunization, maternal health care, and control of epidemic diseases. Poor access and effectiveness were reported for chronic disease management programs, prescribing patterns, health education, referral patterns, and some aspects of interpersonal care including those caused by language barriers. Several factors were identified as determining whether high-quality care was delivered. These included management and organizational factors, implementation of evidence-based practice, professional development, use of referrals to secondary care, and organizational culture.in terms of quality service consumer satisfaction to evaluate the quality of primary care in Saudi Arabia, and to distinguish factors impeding the achievement of quality, with the aim of determining how the quality of Saudi primary care could be improved. Keywords: primary health care, quality of life, maternal health care, effectiveness, performance improvement in primary health care, quality in Saudi Arabia