Abstract
Background: Family medicine is the restorative claim to fame that gives proceeding with, extensive social insurance for the individual and family. It is a claim to fame in broadness that incorporates the organic, clinical, and conducts sciences. The objective of this study was to assess the awareness and knowledge of family medicine physician and his/her practice among the general population of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out and random, representative samples from male and female Saudi nationals belonging to different age groups were collected for the study. The study was conducted during the period from 1 June to 31 August 2018. Data was collected using a pre-designed online questionnaire.
Results: According to the knowledge of the studied population about the family medicine specialty and the role of the family medicine specialist, our study reported that, 86% of cases had heard about family doctor, 37.5% visited family doctor and 61.1% know that the family doctor has a role in treating many of the health problems experienced by family members, especially clinical and surgical diseases, such as respiratory diseases, urinary system, and skin diseases. A 73.6% of them were found to know that the family doctor has a role in referral of the patients to the needed specialist in the case of the inability to treatment, 71.3% know that the family doctor has a role in follow up the patients' condition, and all the changes that occur, 63% know that the family doctor has a role in the early detection of any disease threatening society, 69.7% know that the family doctor has a role in keeping records for each patient, which records his/her health status, and medical history, 60.8% know that a family doctor has a coordinating role in working with a physiotherapist, nursing staff, and psychiatrists, 70.4% know that the family doctor has a role in protecting family members from various diseases, by providing them with the necessary vaccinations, clinical examination, and some essential investigations, such as cholesterol level, cancer screening, and blood picture and 69.8% know that a family doctor has a role in the treatment of chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.
Conclusion: The present study results showed that the Saudi Arabian population has knowledge of useful information about the family medicine specialty and there is proper utilization of the service.

Key words: Family medicine, information, general population, utilization of the service, Saudi Arabia.