Prevention and control of novel coronavirus infections in primary care institutions at early stage of the epidemic: a qualitative study / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the status of prevention and control of COVID-19 in primary care institutions at the early stage of the epidemic.Methods:Thirty healthcare professionals from various places of China were recruited in the study from 6 thto 16 th February 2020 through WeChat platform advertising and by purposive sampling method. They were general practitioners (GPs), administrators, and other specialists, all of whom were involved in the prevention and control of COVID-19. Personal interview and focus group discussion were conducted online. The topic guide was as follows (1) Introduction of the work that primary healthcare professionals carried out during the outbreak of COVID-19. (2) Difficulties and challenges that healthcare professionals encountered. (3) Opinions on the prevention and control of COVID-19. (4) Advices on future outbreak of similar epidemics or disease. NVivo 12 software system was used to code and classify the interview content, and thematic framework analysis was used to sort out and analyze the data and extract the interview themes. Results:Six themes were extracted (1) The community hospital leaders led the work in time but job distribution and prevention procedures were insufficient; and the workload of GPs was heavy. (2) Primary care settings had carried out pre-screening and triage; while outpatient clinic continued to provide health care service for local residents, especially stressing online service and consultation to reduce the population mobility. (3) GPs should make full use of technical advantages and participate in joint prevention and control. (4) GPs offered various health education to residents to improve their awareness of self-protection. (5) GPs lacked professional skills and needed more related training, while the current training were still insufficient. (6) There were not enough supplies and GPs had increasing worries about the infection risks.Conclusions:GPs play an important role in effectively curbing the spread of the epidemic. It is suggested that the setting of triage and fever clinic in primary care institutions need to be readjusted; and the training of prevention and control knowledge and skill for GPs need to be strengthened in the future.