ABSTRACT
Introduction: Health authority in Qatar has developed an emergency action plan to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with primary health care as the main component of that response. The aim of this study was to measure the impact of COVID 19 on primary health care in Qatar in terms of response, modifications of services, and the introduction of new alternatives. Methodology: A retrospective data analysis was conducted for all the COVID-19 swabbing activities, the services utilization volume, and utilization of the alternative services (teleconsultations and medication home delivery) across the primary health care centers. Results: Primary health care allocated testing sites for COVID-19 resulted in conducting 194,381 tests and detected 25,173 confirmed cases with a positivity rate of 12.9 %. The overall PHCC services utilization declined with an overall reduction of 50% in April 2020. Family medicine clinics represented 41.9% of the cancelled appointments. Alternative virtual and remote services were provided, telemedicine was introduced, and it made up 50% of the consultation volumes for April 2020. Medications refill home delivery managed to provide a total of 58,949 delivered prescriptions by end of August 2020. Conclusion: To decrease the risk of infection to the patients and health care workers, Primary health care in Qatar cancelled the appointments for some high-risk population. However, virtual remote services managed to make up for the in-person utilization volume and reflected acceptance in patients' behaviours. Primary health care continued in detecting positive COVID-19 cases among its targeted communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Middle East Journal of Family Medicine is the property of Medi+WORLD International Pty. Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has strained health care systems around the world. Pharmacists have made substantial contributions to the health care operations during the COVID-19 response. The Pharmacy Department at Qatar Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) acted proactively to ensure that all patients received their medications and their refilled prescriptions in time and without any disruption. The Medication Home Delivery Service was introduced and implemented for all Qatar residents to prevent unnecessary visits to health centers, minimize the spread of COVID-19 to vulnerable populations, especially those with multiple comorbidities, and protect health care workers from exposure to the virus. Moreover, several other precautionary measures were taken by the PHCC to ensure uninterrupted access to health care, including moving to a virtual health care delivery model. As of September 2020, the service had served around 64,213 patients since its launch in March 2020. In total, 70,357 medications were delivered and 69,092 (98.2%) medication packages were delivered successfully to patients, with an average of 450.8 medication packages delivered per month. Despite various challenges, the PHCC is considering continuing the Medication Home Delivery Service in the long term to continue with a more effective and efficient service for patients during the coming months and years.