Clinicians’ Core Needs in a Pandemic: Qualitative Findings From the Chat Box in a Statewide COVID-19 ECHO Program

Steeves-Reece, Anna; Elder, Nancy C.; Broadwell, Katherine DuBose; Stock, Ronald

doi:10.1370/afm.2762

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, family physicians faced challenges associated with travel restrictions for patients, lockdowns, quarantine, gaps in testing infrastructure, lack of PPE supply, and calls to provide clinical services to testing centres, vaccination sites, and long-term care settings [ 1 – 3 ]. In nearly every aspect of their work, family physicians felt pressure as a result of having to integrate evolving public health guidelines around social distancing and infection control measures such as masks and hand hygiene [ 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family physicians’ questions about the COVID-19 pandemic: a content analysis of 2,272 helpline calls

McDougall,

Fortier,

Zhang

et al. 2023

BMC Prim. Care

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, family physicians faced challenges including travel restrictions for patients, lockdowns, diagnostic testing delays, and changing public health guidelines. Given that 95% of Canadian physicians are members of the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA), the CMPA’s telephone helpline — which offers peer-to-peer support — provides valuable insights into family physicians’ experiences during the pandemic. Methods We used a content analysis approach to identify and understand family physicians’ questions and concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic expressed during calls to the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) telephone helpline. Calls were classified with preliminary codes and subsequently organized into themes. We collected aggregated data on calls, including province, call date, and whether the physician self-identified having hospital-based activities as part of their practice. Findings from the analysis were explored alongside family physician calls per month (call volume). Results Between 01 and 2020 and 31 December 2021, 2,272 family physician calls related to the pandemic were included for content analysis. We identified six major themes across these calls: challenging patient interactions; COVID-related care; the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare system; virtual care; physician obligations and rights; and public health matters. COVID-related call volumes were highest early in the pandemic especially among physicians without major hospital affiliation when family physicians practiced with little guidance on how to balance patient care and scarce resources in the face of a novel pandemic. Conclusions This research provides unique insight on the effects the COVID-19 pandemic had on family medicine in Canada. These results provide insights on the needs and information gaps of family physicians in a public health crisis and can inform preparedness efforts by public health agencies, professional organizations, educators, and practitioners.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family physicians’ questions about the COVID-19 pandemic: a content analysis of 2,272 helpline calls

McDougall,

Fortier,

Zhang

et al. 2023

BMC Prim. Care

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, family physicians have faced challenges associated with travel restrictions, lockdowns, quarantine, gaps in testing infrastructure, lack of PPE supply, and calls to provide clinical services to testing centres, vaccination sites, and long-term care settings. (1)(2)(3) In nearly every aspect of their work, family physicians felt pressure as a result of having to integrate evolving public health guidelines around social distancing and infection control measures such as masks and hand hygiene. (4) COVID-19 has also led to substantial changes to the practice of medicine, including the need to conduct assessments and provide health education virtually, and the need to provide testing and immunizations with distancing measures in place.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family physicians’ questions about the COVID-19 pandemic: A content analysis of 2,272 helpline calls

McDougall

Fortier

Zhang

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: To evaluate the COVID-related questions and concerns from family physicians and to explore associations between the pattern of COVID-related advice calls and the pandemic’s progression. Methods: We used a content analysis approach to identify and understand family physicians’ questions and concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic expressed during calls to the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) telephone helpline. Calls were classified with preliminary codes and subsequently organized into themes. We collected aggregated data on calls, including province, call date, and whether the physician self-identified having hospital-based activities as part of their practice. Findings from the analysis were explored alongside family physician calls per month (call volume). Results: Between 01 January 2020 and 31 December 2021, 2,272 family physician calls related to the pandemic were included for content analysis. We identified six major themes across these calls: the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare system; challenging patient interactions; public health matters; physician obligations and rights; virtual care; and COVID-related care. Call volumes were highest early in the pandemic especially among physicians without major hospital affiliation when family physicians practiced with little guidance on how to balance patient care and scarce resources in the face of a novel pandemic. Conclusions: This research provides unique insight on the effects the COVID-19 pandemic had on family medicine in Canada. These results provide insights on the needs and information gaps of family physicians in a public health crisis and can inform preparedness efforts by public health agencies, professional organizations, educators, and practitioners.

show abstract

“…In addition to seeking reliable information and practical tools related to COVID-19 response, clinicians expressed a need for support and connection. 5 In a qualitative study, Kelly et al found that staff members in a primary care clinics pulled together to respond to the acute reorganization in response to the pandemic. Staff contributed by learning new skills and taking on new roles during the early months of the pandemic.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Family Tree Spreads its Limbs: National Academy of Medicine Family Physician New Members 2021

Rodríguez¹

2022

Ann Fam Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We are now about 2 years into the COVID-19 pandemic and although great progress has been made with vaccines, medical management, and public health response, globally between 5 and 10 thousand people are still dying from COVID-19 every day. Family medicine health services delivery has changed dramatically and continues to evolve in response to the pandemic. In this issue of Annals of Family Medicine, we are publishing a collection of original research articles focused on assessing the impact of the pandemic in family medicine.Sisó-Almirall et al estimated the impact of the pandemic on new diagnoses of common chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes in primary care. 1 Using data from a cohort of almost 90,000 patients of 3 primary care centers in Spain and comparing pandemic incidence rates to rates during the 3 years prior to the pandemic, authors showed an astonishing reduction of incident diagnosis. For many chronic conditions, only about 50% to 60% of expected new cases were detected. This corresponds to the 41% drop in face-toface visits for chronic disease detection and likely represents missed opportunities to intervene early in the course of a disease rather than an actual decrease in disease incidence. These undiagnosed cases will eventually present at more advanced stages with less favorable outcomes and will further increase the demand on our already depleted health care infrastructure.Although much has been written about the impact of the rapid transition to telehealth on physicians and care teams, the impact on patients and their family members is less apparent. In a survey of caregivers of older adult patients, Raj et al asked caregivers about their experiences with telehealth. 2 Caregivers who were colocated with the patient could assist with the technical set up for visits. However, most caregivers were not colocated with patients and although telehealth visits facilitated remote caregiver participation, the technical challenges were more difficult to overcome.Ha et al describe a program of targeted outreach by 1 family medicine residency team to increase vaccination rates among their patients. 3 Using publicly available vaccination rate data, the team identified communities with low vaccination rates, reviewed medical charts for patients in those communities to identify unvaccinated patients, and then reached out by telephone to provide information and appointments for vaccinations. Their efforts paid off with 39% of those

show abstract

Clinicians’ Core Needs in a Pandemic: Qualitative Findings From the Chat Box in a Statewide COVID-19 ECHO Program

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Family physicians’ questions about the COVID-19 pandemic: a content analysis of 2,272 helpline calls

Family physicians’ questions about the COVID-19 pandemic: a content analysis of 2,272 helpline calls

Family physicians’ questions about the COVID-19 pandemic: A content analysis of 2,272 helpline calls

The Family Tree Spreads its Limbs: National Academy of Medicine Family Physician New Members 2021

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About