Primary health care physicians' perspective on COVID-19 pandemic management in Qatar: a web-based survey.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Objectives
To assess primary care physicians' satisfaction towards COVID-19 pandemic management in Qatar and to identify the associated factors with their satisfaction.Design
A cross-sectional web-based survey conducted from 1 June to 30 July 2020.Setting
All the 27 public primary healthcare centres in Qatar.Participants
294 primary care physicians working in the publicly run primary healthcare corporation in Qatar.Primary outcome measures
Overall satisfaction towards COVID-19 management in Qatar and satisfaction towards each aspect of this management including COVID-19 clinical practice guidelines, psychological support, team dynamics, work safety as well as institutional and governmental regulations.Results
294 primary care physicians participated in the survey with a response rate of 65%. Overall satisfaction of physicians towards COVID-19 19 management at Primary Health Care Corporation was 77%. The highest satisfaction was towards institutional and governmental support while it was the lowest towards the corporation case definition and management of COVID-19 guidelines. Female physicians were less satisfied with psychological support in comparison to males (64.1% and 51% respectively, p=0.049). Overall satisfaction towards case definition and management of COVID-19 guidelines were strongly correlated with their clarity, updating these guidelines in due time and applicability of the guidelines (r=0.759 P<0.001; r=0.701 P<0.001; r=0.698 P<0.001) respectively, while satisfaction towards work safety was strongly correlated with availability and quality of Personal Protective Equipment provided (r=0.83 P<0.001 and r=0.811 P<0.001 respectively).Conclusion
Most primary care physicians in Qatar who responded to the survey were satisfied with the COVID-19 guidelines developed rapidly in response to this pandemic. Availability and quality of PPE were a particular concern. The clinicians who were less satisfied were younger and female.
SUBMITTER: Ismail M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8460529 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:ObjectivesTo assess primary care physicians' satisfaction towards initiation of phone consultation during COVID-19 pandemic management in Qatar and to identify the factors associated with dis/satisfaction.DesignA cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted from 1 June to 30 July 2020.SettingAll the available 27 public primary healthcare centers in Qatar at the time of the study.ParticipantsTwo hundred ninety-four primary care physicians working in the publicly run primary healthcare corporation in Qatar.Primary outcome measuresOverall satisfaction of primary care physicians with the initiation of phone consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar and their satisfaction towards each aspect of this management.ResultsTwo hundred thirty-nine primary care physicians participated in the survey with a response rate of 53.1%. Overall, about 45% and 21% of respondents agreed that COVID-19 disease management has highly impacted and very highly impacted their daily practice, respectively. More than half of the physicians (59.9%) indicated being satisfied/highly satisfied with the initiation of telephone consultation service. On the other hand, few physicians were satisfied (14.3%) or highly satisfied (3.4%) with conducting telephone consultations with patients who lack previous electronic medical records. Also, only 20.3% and 3.8% of physicians were satisfied and highly satisfied with the lack of physical examination in telephone consultations, respectively. On bivariate analysis, primary care physicians' age was significantly associated with the perceived level of impact of COVID-19 management on daily practice (P = 0.03). There was no significant association between participants' characteristics and the level of satisfaction toward telephone consultations. On the other hand, there was a statistically significant association between physicians' age (p = 0.048) and gender (p = 0.014) and their level of satisfaction toward communication and support.
| S-EPMC8917813 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe appropriateness and cost-effectiveness of screening mammography (SM) for women younger than 50 and older than 74 years is debated in the clinical research community, among health care providers, and by the American public. This study explored primary care physicians' (PCPs) perceptions of the influence of clinical practice guidelines for SM; the recommendations for SM in response to hypothetical case scenarios; and the factors associated with perceived SM effectiveness and recommendations in the US from June to December 2009 before the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently revised guidelines.MethodsA nationally representative sample of 11,922 PCPs was surveyed using a web-based questionnaire. The response rate was 5.7% (684); (41%) 271 family physicians (FP), (36%) 232 general internal medicine physicians (IM), (23%) 150 obstetrician-gynaecologists (OBG), and (0.2%) 31 others. Cross-sectional analysis examined PCPs perceived effectiveness of SM, and recommendation for SM in response to hypothetical case scenarios. PCPs responses were measured using 4-5 point adjectival scales. Differences in perceived effectiveness and recommendations for SM were examined after adjusting for PCPs specialty, race/ethnicity, and the US region.ResultsCompared to IM and FP, OBG considered SM more effective in reducing breast cancer mortality among women aged 40-49 years (p = 0.003). Physicians consistently recommended mammography to women aged 50-69 years with no differences by specialty (p = 0.11). However, 94% of OBG "always recommended" SM to younger and 86% of older women compared to 81% and 67% for IM and 84% and 59% for FP respectively (p = < .001). In ordinal regression analysis, OBG specialty was a significant predictor for perceived higher SM effectiveness and recommendations for younger and older women. In evaluating hypothetical scenarios, overall PCPs would recommend SM for the 80 year woman with CHF with a significant variation by specialty (38% of OBG, 18% of FP, 17% of IM; p = < .001).ConclusionsA majority of physicians, especially OBG, favour aggressive breast cancer screening for women from 40 through 79 years of age, including women with short life expectancy. Policy interventions should focus on educating providers to provide tailored recommendations for mammography based on individualized cancer risk, health status, and preferences.
| S-EPMC3293074 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundEvidences from literature suggest that Primary Care Physicians' (PCPs) knowledge and attitude about psychological and pharmacological treatments of anxiety and depressive disorders could influence their clinical practice. The aim of the study is double: 1) to assess PCPs' opinions about antidepressants (ADs) and psychotherapy for the management of anxiety and depressive disorders; 2) to evaluate the influence of PCPs' gender, age, duration of clinical practice, and office location on their opinions and attitudes.MethodsThis cross-sectional multicentre survey involved 816 PCPs working in four Local Health Units of the Emilia Romagna Region. Participating PCPs were asked to complete a questionnaire during educational meetings between October 2006 and December 2008.ResultsThe response rate was 65.1%. Eighty-five percent of PCPs agreed on the effectiveness of ADs for depressive disorder whereas lower agreement emerged for anxiety disorder and on psychotherapy for both anxiety and depression. Forty percent of PCPs reported to feel "very/extremely confident" in recognizing depression and 20.0% felt equally confident in treating it with pharmacotherapy. Considering anxiety disorder, these proportions increased. Female PCPs and those located in the rural/mountain areas reported to adopt more psycho-educational support compared to male and suburban colleagues.ConclusionsOur results suggest that an effort should be made to better disseminate recent evidences about the management of anxiety and depressive disorders in Primary Care. In particular, the importance of psychological interventions and the role of drugs for anxiety disorder should be addressed.
| S-EPMC3688370 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSince 2000, Israel has had a national program for ongoing monitoring of the quality of the primary care services provided by the country's four competing non-profit health plans. Previous research has demonstrated that quality of care has improved substantially since the program's inception and that the program enjoys wide support among health plan managers. However, prior to this study there were anecdotal and journalistic reports of opposition to the program among primary care physicians engaged in direct service delivery; these raised serious questions about the extent of support among physicians nationally.GoalsTo assess how Israeli primary care physicians experience and rate health plan efforts to track and improve the quality of care.MethodThe study population consisted of primary care physicians employed by the health plans who have responsibility for the quality of care of a panel of adult patients. The study team randomly sampled 250 primary-care physicians from each of the four health plans. Of the 1,000 physicians sampled, 884 met the study criteria. Every physician could choose whether to participate in the survey by mail, e-mail, or telephone. The anonymous questionnaire was completed by 605 physicians - 69% of those eligible. The data were weighted to reflect differences in sampling and response rates across health plans.Main findingsThe vast majority of respondents (87%) felt that the monitoring of quality was important and two-thirds (66%) felt that the feedback and subsequent remedial interventions improved medical care to a great extent. Almost three-quarters (71%) supported continuation of the program in an unqualified manner. The physicians with the most positive attitudes to the program were over age 44, independent contract physicians, and either board-certified in internal medicine or without any board-certification (i.e., residents or general practitioners). At the same time, support for the program was widespread even among physicians who are young, board-certified in family medicine, and salaried.Many physicians also reported that various problems had emerged to a great or very great extent: a heavier workload (65%), over-competitiveness (60%), excessive managerial pressure (48%), and distraction from other clinical issues (35%). In addition, there was some criticism of the quality of the measures themselves. Respondents also identified approaches to addressing these problems.ConclusionsThe findings provide perspective on the anecdotal reports of physician opposition to the monitoring program; they may well accurately reflect the views of the small number of physicians directly involved, but they do not reflect the views of primary care physicians as a whole, who are generally quite supportive of the program. At the same time, the study confirms the existence of several perceived problems. Some of these problems, such as excess managerial pressure, can probably best be addressed by the health plans themselves; while others, such as the need to refine the quality indicators, are probably best addressed at the national level. Cooperation between primary care physicians and health plan managers, which has been an essential component of the program's success thus far, can also play an important role in addressing the problems identified.
| S-EPMC3472172 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a potentially fatal disease that is of great global public health concern.ObjectiveWe explored the clinical management of inpatients with COVID-19 in Italy.MethodsA self-administered survey was sent by email to Italian physicians caring for adult patients with COVID-19. A panel of experts was selected according to their clinical curricula and their responses were analyzed.ResultsA total of 1,215 physicians completed the survey questionnaire (17.4% response rate). Of these, 188 (15.5%) were COVID-19 experts. Chest computed tomography was the most used method to detect and monitor COVID-19 pneumonia. Most of the experts managed acute respiratory failure with CPAP (56.4%), high flow nasal cannula (18.6%), and non-invasive mechanical ventilation (8%), while an intensivist referral for early intubation was requested in 17% of the cases. Hydroxychloroquine was prescribed as an antiviral in 90% of cases, both as monotherapy (11.7%), and combined with protease inhibitors (43.6%) or azithromycin (36.2%). The experts unanimously prescribed low-molecular-weight heparin to patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, and half of them (51.6%) used a dose higher than standard. The respiratory burden in patients who survived the acute phase was estimated as relevant in 28.2% of the cases, modest in 39.4%, and negligible in 9%.ConclusionsIn our survey some major topics, such as the role of non-invasive respiratory support and drug treatments, show disagreement between experts, likely reflecting the absence of high-quality evidence studies. Considering the significant respiratory sequelae reported following COVID-19, proper respiratory and physical therapy programs should be promptly made available.
| S-EPMC7949238 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundEffective immunizations require a thorough, multi-step process, yet few studies comprehensively addressed issues around vaccination management.ObjectivesTo assess variations in vaccination management and vaccination errors in primary care.MethodsA cross sectional, web-based questionnaire survey was performed among 1157 primary physicians from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: a representative 10% random sample of general practitioners (n = 946) and all teaching physicians from the University Duisburg-Essen (n = 211). Four quality aspects with three items each were included: patient-related quality (patient information, patient consent, strategies to increase immunization rates), vaccine-related quality (practice vaccine spectrum, vaccine pre-selection, vaccination documentation), personnel-related quality (recommendation of vaccinations, vaccine application, personnel qualification) and storage-related quality (storage device, temperature log, vaccine storage control). For each of the four quality aspects, "good quality" was reached if all three criteria per quality aspect were fulfilled. Good vaccination management was defined as fulfilling all twelve items. Additionally, physicians' experiences with errors and nearby-errors in vaccination management were obtained.ResultsMore than 20% of the physicians participated in the survey. Good vaccination management was reached by 19% of the practices. Patient-related quality was good in 69% of the practices, vaccine-related quality in 73%, personnel-related quality in 59% and storage-related quality in 41% of the practices. No predictors for error reporting and good vaccination management were identified.ConclusionsWe identified good results for vaccine- and patient-related quality but need to improve issues that revolve around vaccine storage.
| S-EPMC4132103 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In an era of globalization, travel-related illnesses have become a focus of public health concern. Pretravel consultation is an effective measure to promote healthy travel. This study aimed to assess the scope of primary care physicians' (PCPs) practice of travel medicine (TM) in Qatar and its associated predictors. This was a cross-sectional study design. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from all PCPs working in the 27 primary healthcare centers in Qatar. Descriptive and analytic statistics were used as appropriate, and a multivariable logistic regression model was constructed. Three hundred sixty-four PCPs participated in the study (response rate of 89.2%). Most PCPs (91.1%) provided pretravel consultations of which 72.7% provided less than 10 consultations per month. Overall, pretravel advice content and frequency including vaccine and malaria chemoprophylaxis recommendations were inadequate. Significant predictors of high frequency of pretravel consultations (≥10/month) included male PCPs (AOR 1.78, 95% CI: 1.01, 3.18), PCPs who had postgraduate training or experience in TM (AOR 2.74, 95% CI: 1.59, 4.72), and multilingual (speaking ≥3 languages) physicians (AOR 1.96, 95% CI: 1.12, 3.45). Frequently encountered post-travel illnesses included travelers' diarrhea, respiratory diseases, and fever. While, most PCPs provided pretravel consultations, the frequency and content of consultations were inadequate. Male PCPs, past training or experience in TM, and multilingual physicians were important predictors of providing a high frequency of pretravel consultation. The findings of this study identified several gaps in PCPs' TM practice. Specific measures should be designed and implemented to reduce the burden of travel-related illnesses and promote healthy travel.
| S-EPMC10410236 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesTo explore the patterns, trends, nature, and extent of changes in sickness absence among health care workers (HCWs) at the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) in Qatar-during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years and uncover the main associated factors.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of all sick leaves' records of PHCC HCWs regardless of their profession from January 2019 till August 2021.ResultsA total of 41,132 sick leaves were taken during the studied period. The majority of HCWs who availed sick leaves were between 30-39 years (45.9%), females (65.1%), and expatriates (65.1%). Compared with pre-COVID-19 (Jan 2019-Feb 2020), Wave 1 of COVID-19 had significantly less incidence of sick leaves per day per 1000 HCWs. While wave 2 had significantly higher incidence of sick leaves compared to both pre-COVID-19 and wave 1. The number of sick leaves per person among female HCWs was significantly higher than that of male HCWs. Moreover, the number of sick leaves per person among locals were about two times the number among expatriate HCWs. Physicians and nurses had significantly lower number of sick leave per person compared to other professions. The rates of sick leaves due to suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection, back/neck pain and gastroenteritis were significantly higher in the second wave compared to the first wave of COVID-19.ConclusionOverall and cause specific sick leave rates among HCWs varied significantly across different periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 related sick leave rate was higher during the second wave compared to first one. By addressing the root causes of sick leaves, it is possible to reduce the burden on HCWs and ensure their continued ability to provide essential care to those in need.
| S-EPMC10018637 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Because of high purchase costs of newer vaccines, financial risk to private vaccination providers has increased. We assessed among pediatricians and family physicians satisfaction with insurance payment for vaccine purchase and administration by payer type, the proportion who have considered discontinuing provision of all childhood vaccines for financial reasons, and strategies used for handling uncertainty about insurance coverage when new vaccines first become available.A national survey among private pediatricians and family physicians April to September 2011.Response rates were 69% (190/277) for pediatricians and 70% (181/260) for family physicians. Level of dissatisfaction varied significantly by payer type for payment for vaccine administration (Medicaid, 63%; Children's Health Insurance Program, 56%; managed care organizations, 48%; preferred provider organizations, 38%; fee for service, 37%; P < .001), but not for payment for vaccine purchase (health maintenance organization or managed care organization, 52%; Child Health Insurance Program, 47%; preferred provider organization, 45%; fee for service, 41%; P = .11). Ten percent of physicians had seriously considered discontinuing providing all childhood vaccines to privately insured patients because of cost issues. The most commonly used strategy for handling uncertainty about insurance coverage for new vaccines was to inform parents that they may be billed for the vaccine; 67% of physicians reported using 3 or more strategies to handle this uncertainty.Many primary care physicians are dissatisfied with payment for vaccine purchase and administration from third-party payers, particularly public insurance for vaccine administration. Physicians report a variety of strategies for dealing with the uncertainty of insurance coverage for new vaccines.
| S-EPMC4731026 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSNHL) is a medical emergency requiring immediate attention as delayed treatment can lead to permanent and devastating consequences. Primary care physicians are likely the first to be presented with SSNHL and therefore have the crucial role of recognizing it and initiating timely and appropriate management. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the current knowledge and practice trends pertaining to the diagnosis and management of SSNHL among family physicians in Canada.MethodsAn 18-question survey targeting Canadian family physicians was marketed through two, physician-only discussion groups on the social media platform Facebook. Responses were collected between August 1st and December 22nd 2019 then aggregated and quantified.Results52 family physicians submitted responses. 94.2% (n = 49) reported that in their practice, unilateral SSNHL warrants urgent referral to otolaryngology and 84.6% (n = 44) reported that unilateral sudden-onset hearing loss warrants urgent referral for audiological testing. 73.1% of participants (n = 38) reported that they would attempt to differentiate between conductive and sensorineural hearing loss if presented with unilateral, acute or sudden-onset hearing loss. 61.5% (n = 32) would rely on tuning fork tests to inform management decisions, as compared to 94.2% (n = 49) relying on case history and 88.5% (n = 46) on otoscopy. 76.9% (n = 40) would prescribe corticosteroids if presented with confirmed, unilateral SSNHL.ConclusionThe majority of family physicians in the study would make appropriate referral and treatment decisions in the management of SSNHL, understanding it is a medical emergency. Tuning fork tests are under-utilized for informing management decisions compared to other means of differentiating conductive and sensorineural hearing loss. Further research is needed to understand why some family physicians do not prescribe corticosteroids for treatment of SSNHL, which may then identify any gaps in knowledge or inform improvements in clinical protocol.
| S-EPMC8015047 | biostudies-literature