Assessing Confidence of Family Medicine Residents in Performing Digital Rectal Examination in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Issue: Cancer incidence in Saudi Arabia has been increasing in the last decade. Prostate cancer incidence increased up to 8-fold between 1990-2016. The skills of primary care practitioners in performing Digital Rectal Examinations (DREs) are becoming necessary for detecting the early stages of prostate cancer. Evidence: Digital Rectal Examination (DRE) is an essential part of clinical evaluation for family medicine physicians. Several studies looked at this issue. In one study, they assessed the knowledge and perception of family medicine residents in digital rectal examination done on 217 residents showed that onethird of respondents did not receive any feedback or teaching for DRE technique. About 71% of respondents showed their inability to identify the nature of abnormal findings on DRE (2). Implications: This study was aimed is to assess the confidence of family medicine residents in performing DRE, to improve family medicine residents' qualification in detecting early stages of prostate cancer and improve patient outcome through assessment tool in the form of valid questionnaires done before and after teaching session on DRE exam simulation. We want to develop a recommendation to use simulation as a core in the curriculum in family medicine training program in Saudi Arabia.