Barriers to Research and Publications among Family Medicine Residents in Saudi Arabia

Research activities carried by postgraduate medical residents are very important in promoting better clinical care, critical reasoning and writing, keeping updated with local, regional and international guidelines as well as lifelong education. However, some barriers were identified to prevent residents from conducting of high-quality research during residency. The research objective was to determine the barriers that can prevent family medicine residents to conduct high-quality research during residency and to make publication by the residents during residency. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among family medicine residents enrolled in the residency program the  of seven largest hospitals in Riyadh City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A self-reported survey instrument was used for data collection. It included questions regarding personal and academic-related characteristics of physicians, history of taking research during residency, confidence and motivation in seeking publication of research and barriers and existing resources conducting research. A total of 254 family medicine residents responded out of targeted 286, giving a response rate of 88.8%. The majority of them (85%) aged between 26 and 29 years. Males represented 53.9% of them. Regarding their future choice after completion of the residency program, 33.1% chose practice as family medicine specialists whereas 24% chose to pursue a graduate degree. Majority of the respondents (91.3%) reported taking a research course during residency training and 85% reported presence of a mandatory research course during residency training. The commonest reported barriers mentioned by family medicine residents to complete their research were lack of overall interest in research project (40.2), lack of interest in completing research (38.6%), limited knowledge of the processes associated with research (36.2%) and lack of time available to complete research activities (24.4%). Regarding the resources currently available to assist the family medicine residents in the pursuit of research, the most frequently reported were mentorship from a preceptor or colleague with extensive research experience (59.1%) and mentorship from preceptors with extensive family medicine practice experience (49.6%). Barriers are existing regarding the conduction of research projects among family medicine resident physicians. Thus, people in charge should implement measures in order to create effective solutions to these barriers.