The use of and out-of-pocket spending on complementary and alternative medicine in Qassim province, Saudi Arabia.

Background And Objectives: The current picture of the Saudis' use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has not yet been developed. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of using the international questionnaire to measure use of complementary and alternative medicine (I-CAM-Q) in Saudi Arabia to evaluate the use of and out-of-pocket spending on CAM.

Design And Settings: It was a cross-sectional study, conducted in 2011, in primary health care centers in Qassim.

Epidemiology of medico-legal litigations and related medical errors in Central and Northern Saudi Arabia. A retrospective prevalence study.

Objective: To study medico-legal litigations and related medical errors in Central (Al-Qassim), and Northern (Hael) districts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and to identify types and causes of errors to reduce medical errors and patient harm.

Methods: This retrospective prevalence study was carried out between May 2010 and December 2011 to analyze medico-legal litigations in Al-Qassim and Hael districts that were investigated by the Al-Qassim Medico-Legal Committee, Al-Qassim, KSA. Final verdicts issued between 1992 and 2009 included 293 cases.