Satisfaction of primary care physicians towards initiation of phone consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic management in Qatar: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To 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. DESIGN: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted from 1 June to 30 July 2020. SETTING: All the available 27 public primary healthcare centers in Qatar at the time of the study. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred ninety-four primary care physicians working in the publicly run primary healthcare corporation in Qatar. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall 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. RESULTS: Two 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.

Primary healthcare physicians' satisfaction towards work safety and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: During COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers are experiencing unprecedented pressure from stressors including enormous workload, virus exposure, and inadequate PPE. This study aimed to assess primary healthcare physicians' satisfaction towards work safety and personal protective equipment and their predictors during early stages of COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar. METHODS: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted in 27 primary healthcare centers in Qatar from 1st June to 30 July 2020. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used when appropriate. A multivariable linear regression analysis was done to identify predictors of satisfaction among participants. RESULTS: A total of 262 participants completed the questionnaire with a response rate of 58.2%. 51.9% were males and 68.3% were family physicians. Only 14.9% and 17.2% of respondents were satisfied or highly satisfied about the overall safety of work and the clinical guidelines on the use of PPE in the context of COVID-19 respectively. Participants who were general practitioners were significantly more likely to be satisfied with maintaining work safety and local PPE guidelines compared to family physicians by 2.93 scores (95% CI 1.43, 4,43 p -value <0.001), and 2.82 scores (95% CI 1.19, 4,44 p -value 0.001) respectively. Also, physicians who had more than ten years of experience in practice were significantly more likely to be satisfied with the PPE use guidelines compared to those who had fewer years of experience by 1.93 scores (95% CI 0.45, 3.41 p -value 0.011). CONCLUSION: Overall satisfaction of participants with the safety of work and PPE clinical practice guidelines was low.