El Mahalli, A.A.Akl, O.A.M.Al Dawood, S.F.Al Nehab, A.A.Al Kubaish, H.A.Al Saeed, S.I.Elkahky, A.A.A.Salem, A.M.A.A.2014-06-172014-06-172012-12-311020-3397http://applications.emro.who.int/emhj/v18/11/EMHJ_2012_18_11_1086_1090.pdfhttps://iris.who.int/handle/10665/1184811086-1090This study aimed to measure the performance of primary health care centres in Eastern province, Saudi Arabia, using the WHO/International Network of Rational Use of Drugs patient care and facility-specific drug use indicators. In a cross-sectional study, 10 health centres were selected using systematic random sampling. A total of 300 patients were interviewed while visiting the centre from January to March 2011 and 10 pharmacists from the same centres were interviewed. Average consultation time was 7.3 min [optimal >/-30 min], percentage of drugs adequately labelled was 10% [optimal 100%] and patient's knowledge of correct dosage was 79.3% [optimal 100%]. The percentage of key drugs in stock was only 59.2% [optimal 100%]. An overall index of rational facility-specific drug use was calculated and applied to rank the health centres for benchmarkingenDrug Utilization ReviewPrimary Health CareWorld Health OrganizationCross-Sectional StudiesPatient Care