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Introduction. Prescription for diabetes care is an important practice in primary care. Methods. This is a descriptive study carried out on at primary care clinics over a five-month period at Al Imam Medical Complex, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was cross-sectional study of 160 female diabetic patients, who visited the services between January and May, 2012. Data were collected from the medical records on the clinical characteristics and drugs prescribed for their diabetic management. Results. The majority of the sample population (82%) was older than 40 years old. Half of them had concomitant hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity. There were 500 prescriptions for diabetes management. More than 57% of participants were on two or more drugs for hyperglycemia. Metformin was the most common drug prescribed. Metformin and sulphonylurea were the most common combined medications. Most of cases ( 70%) were on a combination of antihypertensive drugs. ACE or ARBs and diuretic was the most common combined prescriptions. Statins and aspirin were used by 41% and 23.8% of the research population, respectively. Conclusion. Polypharmacy is a feature in diabetes care. Most of the prescription practice for diabetic care follows the recommended guidelines for hyperglycemia and hypertension. Management of dyslipidemia among diabetic patients, however, is an area that needs to be developed.

BackgroundLack of sufficient preparation of physicians for the provision of breastfeeding support and counselling has been well-documented. The development of training in breastfeeding medicine for medical students is currently ongoing worldwide. This study was conducted to gain insights into a potential framework for a breastfeeding education curriculum.MethodsA mixed-method design was used to evaluate the opinions of medical teachers regarding current lactation education and the applicability of the World Health Organization ‘Infant and young child feeding: model chapter for textbooks for medical students and allied health professionals’ in medical colleges in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Twelve teachers from three medical schools were invited to participate in three rounds of research. The first round was carried out through an interview using open-ended questions under three headings: 1) The general opinion on breastfeeding medicine education in medical colleges; 2) The opinion on the contents of the chapter under investigation; and 3) The opinion on cultural points regarding Saudi Arabia and breastfeeding education in medical colleges. This was followed by a thematic analysis. Self-administered, closed-ended questionnaires were created for the second round based the results of the first round. The third round addressed areas of disagreement in opinions. To assess the degree of agreement objectively, rounds 2 and 3 were analyzed according to the 5-point Likert scale, with responses merged to a 3-point Likert scale where appropriate. A consensus was reached when greater than 70% agreement achieved.ResultsAll participants agreed that breastfeeding education is suboptimal. Although they considered the world health organization resource on infant and young child chapter a suitable reference for the curriculum, they agreed that modifications to suit the Saudi Arabian context are necessary. The medical teachers suggested a unique curriculum for medical students, which is similar for both genders. However, disagreement existed regarding the provision of extra clinical training to female students.ConclusionsBreastfeeding medicine education in medical colleges should be developed using resources that are rich in content, are physician-specific and take into consideration the culture.