full pdf of issue - Middle East Journal of Family Medicine

FROM THE EDITORFrom the EditorAbdulrazak AbyadMD, MPH, AGSF, AFCHS(Chief Editor)Editorial office:Abyad Medical Center &Middle East Longevity InstituteAzmi Street, Abdo CenterPO BOX 618Tripoli, LebanonP + (961) 6 443684F + (961) 6 443685E aabyad@cyberia.net.lbW www.amc-lb.comIn this issue, an internationalcollaboration, with authors from7 countries looks at strategies toimprove the status of family physicians.Proposed strategies fall under thefollowing headings:1. Family medicine as the foundationfor health care systems;2. Promoting broad based scope forfamily practice;3. Promoting Family medicineresearch and scholarship.Further discussions relate tostrengthening of undergraduate andpost graduate education in FamilyPractice and promotion of quality infamily medicine with particular referenceto policy and services provision.A population based cross sectionalstudy paper from Qatar looked at JobSatisfaction and Stress level of PrimaryHealth Caregivers at Primary HealthCenters in Qatar. 323 questionnaireswere distributed to all the physicians/General Practitioners (GPs) workingin Primary Health Care Centers inQatar. Out of 323, only 176 (54%)responded. The authors concludedthat job satisfaction of primary healthcaregivers is critical for improvementof health systems. The results of ourstudy showed that Qatari physicianswere less satisfied with the rate ofpay and the amount of variety in work.Stress was found more in Qatari HealthCaregivers than Non-Qatari.A cross sectional study from SaudiArabia looked at the prevalence ofmetabolic Syndrome among type2 Saudi diabetic patients. The aimof the paper was to determine theprevalence of the syndrome amongtype 2 diabetic patients attending thediabetic center at Gurayat GeneralHospital. The population of the studywas patients with type 2 diabeteswith specific characters. Only 530patients were eligible to enter thestudy. Four criteria for diagnosing thesyndrome were defined (Fasting BloodGlucose >150mh/dl, Blood Pressure>140/90mmHg or taking drugs, obesityif BMI>30, dyslipidaemia if S.triglyceride> 150mg/dl and HDL