Lessons on the COVID-19 pandemic, for and by primary care professionals worldwide

The COVID-19 pandemic has modified organisation and processes of primary care. In this paper, we aim to summarise experiences of international primary care systems. We explored personal accounts and findings in reporting on the early experiences from primary care during the pandemic, through the onl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European journal of general practice 2020-12, Vol.26 (1), p.129-133
Main Authors: Rawaf, Salman, Allen, Luke N., Stigler, Florian L., Kringos, Dionne, Quezada Yamamoto, Harumi, van Weel, Chris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Betacoronavirus
Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Delivery of Health Care
Health Behavior
health system
Humans
Opinion Paper
pandemic
Pandemics
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
Physicians, Primary Care
Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology
Primary care
primary health care
Primary Health Care - methods
Primary Health Care - organization & administration
Qualitative Research
SARS-CoV-2
Telemedicine
Telephone
Triage
virtual focus group
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic has modified organisation and processes of primary care. In this paper, we aim to summarise experiences of international primary care systems. We explored personal accounts and findings in reporting on the early experiences from primary care during the pandemic, through the online Global Forum on Universal Health Coverage and Primary Health Care. During the early stage of the pandemic, primary care continued as the first point of contact to the health system but was poorly informed by policy makers on how to fulfil its role and ill equipped to provide care while protecting staff and patients against further spread of the infection. In many countries, the creativity and initiatives of local health professionals led to the introduction or extension of the use of telephone, e-mail and virtual consulting, and introduced triaging to separate 'suspected' COVID-19 from non-COVID-19 care. There were substantial concerns of collateral damage to the health of the population due to abandoned or postponed routine care. The pandemic presents important lessons to strengthen health systems through better connection between public health, primary care, and secondary care to cope better with future waves of this and other pandemics.
ISSN:1381-4788
1751-1402
DOI:10.1080/13814788.2020.1820479