Evaluation of facilities for diagnostic imaging at the primary health care centres in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

Objectives: To evaluate the availability of radiological services in primary health care centres (PHCCs) and the abilities of general practitioners (GP) and family physician (FP) to interpret the radiological investigations and the referral of the radiological images to radiologists Design: Descriptive quantitative cross-sectional study Setting: The study was conducted on 44 randomly selected PHCCs in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia Subjects: One hundred and four participants were included in this study; GPs and FPs, residents, specialists and consultants. Interventions: A self-administered questionnaire was used. Main outcome measure: To investigate the availabilities of radiological facilities in the PHCCs in Al-Madinah Results: This study included 44 PHCCs in Al Madinah of which 20 (45.5%) have radiological services, while 24 (54.5%) did not. Among the 20 PHCCs that had radiological services, 11 (55%) had working equipment while radiology service equipment was not working in 9 (45%). The most common reason for radiographs referral was to consult a radiologist to help in making a final diagnosis. Conclusions: A higher percentage of PHCCs in Al Madinah did not have radiological services. Meanwhile, a high percent of available radiological services was not working yet. Providing radiology services in PHCCs increase the efficiency of the work in PHCCs, thus reducing patients' waiting times.