Knowledge and Competence Regarding the Management of Chronic Kidney Disease among Family Medicine Professionals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Diabetes is a significant risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and a primary cause of global morbidity and mortality, resulting in significant costs to healthcare systems. The management of diabetic CKD in the primary care setting remains an ongoing challenge despite the current best practices in the quality of care. This study evaluated family medicine physicians' knowledge and confidence regarding managing CKD in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. A self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to physicians through various social media sites and email lists. The largest number of participants reported a full confidence in knowing kidney disease stages, blood pressure targets and the importance of urine albumin-creatinine ratio testing. Overall, 71.8% of physicians reported a high confidence level, followed by 23.9% reporting average and 4.2% reporting low confidence. Being younger and working at PHC were identified as significant predictors of increased confidence. Although most of the physicians reported a high confidence in managing CKD patients, the need for improvement was evident. Age and workplace institutions were the greater contributors to physicians' confidence. Continuous education among healthcare practitioners is crucial to updating knowledge and providing optimum quality of care among this group of patients.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease; confidence; family medicine physician; knowledge; management.