The Attitude of Physicians towards Education and Rehabilitation of Patients on Chronic Dialysis: A Questionnaire Survey

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the attitude of physicians in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) towards the education and rehabilitation of chronic dialysis patients. Questionnaires were sent to 155 physicians working in 148 dialysis centers. They included 109 centers (73.6 %) in the Ministry of Health (MOH), 18 (12.2%) in governmental non-MOH sector and 21 centers (14.2 %) in private hospitals that together care for a population of more than 7,900 chronic dialysis patients. The study was performed between January and March 2006. Responses were received from 141 physicians (90.9%) from 140 (94.5%) dialysis centers. There were 134 (97.1%) respondents who believed that the ideal ratio of patients per dialysis nurse should be 3, 132 (97.1%) believed that the ideal ratio of patients per physician should be 25, 120 (88.9%) believed that the ideal ratio of patients per dietitian should be 50, and 102 respondents (81.0%) believed that the ideal ratio of patients per social worker should be 50. There were 46 respondents (32.6%) who always and 53 (37.6%) who mostly found time to educate the patients about the various options available for renal failure treatment. Educational tools, such as reading materials and audiovisuals, were only available to 56 respondents (42.7%). There were 88 (63.3%) respondents who always discussed results of laboratory tests in detail with their dialysis patients, while 48 (34.5%) informed patients when any abnormality was discovered. There were 130 respondents (94.9%) who believed that their patients were satisfied with services of the physicians, 53 (39.0%) with the dietitian s, 57 (42.5%) with the social worker s, and 131 (94.9%) with the nurses services. Our survey suggests that that the current practices concerning education and rehabilitation of patients in the dialysis centers in the KSA may not be satisfactory. More studies are needed to explore these issues.