Physicians’ Perceptions of the Utility of Clinical Guidelines in the Management of People with Type 2 Diabetes in Saudi Arabia
Aim: The aim of this research was to assess physicians’ perception of the utility of clinical guidelines in the management of people with Type 2 diabetes in Saudi Arabia and how their perception is affected by different physicians’ characteristics and whether high perception would result in adherence to guidelines. Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional study design and used a self-administered online survey through Qualtrics software. The survey was distributed through the Saudi Society for Diabetes (SSD) whose membership includes more than five-thousand active physicians from all regions of Saudi Arabia. There were 493 respondents to the survey. Results: Around half of the study participants (52.5%) were female, (50.9%) were aged 45 years and below, (55.8%) were non-Saudis, (52.1%) of study participants were board-certified, (30.5%) had more than 15 years of experience after getting the medical degree, (45.9%) had more than 15 years of experience in their specialization, and (27.6%) were from the Northern region. The key findings of this research are: 1) physicians’ perceptions about the utility of clinical guidelines significantly differed based on years of experience after obtaining their degree, the region of practice, utilization of clinical guidelines to manage their patients, and the types of clinical guidelines used to manage Type 2 diabetes patients; 2) having five to ten years of experience in practicing specialty negatively affect physicians’ perception towards the utility of clinical guidelines; 3) physicians who are aged over 55 years and those who reported having years of experience in specialty over 5 years were more likely to use clinical guidelines to manage Type 2 diabetes patients (p≤0.01); and 4) physicians’ perception showed a negative mediation effect for the age group 36-45 years and those who reported duration of experience of 11-15 years after obtaining their degree on their utilization of clinical guidelines to manage Type 2 diabetes patients. At the same time, physicians’ perception showed a positive mediation effect for those who reported a duration of experience in the specialty of 15 years and above. Conclusion: In general, physicians' perception of the utility of diabetes guidelines is positive. Nevertheless, other parts of the healthcare system should be investigated and improved to acquire new changes required for achieving optimum care.
Diabetes, Diabetes guidelines, Physicians' perception, Public Health
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