Prevalence and barriers of providing written asthma action plan by primary care physicians in Saudi Arabia (2019); a multivariate regression analysis

Abstract

Background: Personalized written asthma action plans (WAAP) can assist self-management of asthma and improve management outcomes. In Saudi Arabia, data assessing the adherence with providing WAAP are decidedly lacking. Objective: To determine the prevalence of providing WAAP and its perceived barriers by family physicians. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among family physicians working in family medicine clinics of Prince Sultan Military Medical City (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) during November 2019. Physicians were asked to fill in a researcher-made study questionnaire that included potential WAAP barriers. IBM© SPSS© Statistics version 21 was used for statistical analyses. Results: Out of 202 physicians included in the current study, only 34 (16.8%) were providing WAAP for their patients with asthma. Only 6.8% of the patients seen by the study physicians were receiving WAAP. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, larger number of patients encountered per month and non-adherence of patients to management plans were significantly associated with providing WAAP. Odds ratios (OR) were "OR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01-1.04, p=0.009" and "OR: 3.33, 95% CI: 1.40-7.87, p=0.006. On the other hand, lack of awareness with WAAP recommendations was significantly associated with not providing WAAP (OR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.04-0.89, p=0.035). Conclusions:The finding confirms the low utilization of WAAP at primary care setting in Saudi Arabia, which is probably reflecting a limited education and training rather than a negative attitude towards WAAP. The findings underscore the need to raise the awareness of family physicians with WAAP recommendations and the need to fix some workflow issues.

Are the healthcare resources, organisational support and practice in asthma management optimal in the Malaysian primary care setting?

“…This evidence-based practice should be encouraged to improve asthma care. [23][24][25][26][27] Long-term control medication for example ICS and combination LABA/ICS were available, however LABA/ICS were not adequately provided. The reasons for inadequate provision of some medications (speci cally ICS/LABA inhalers) to the clinics was not explored, but possible reasons could be related to underestimate of demand as the prevalence of patients with poorly controlled asthma was high.…”