Responding to COVID-19: The Suitability of Primary Care Infrastructure in 33 Countries

Adam Windak, Katarzyna Nessler (), Esther Van Poel, Claire Collins, Ewa Wójtowicz, Liubove Murauskiene, Kathryn Hoffmann and Sara Willems
Additional contact information
Adam Windak: Department of Family Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-061 Krakow, Poland
Katarzyna Nessler: Department of Family Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-061 Krakow, Poland
Esther Van Poel: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Claire Collins: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Ewa Wójtowicz: Department of Family Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-061 Krakow, Poland
Liubove Murauskiene: Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Kathryn Hoffmann: Unit Health Services Research and Telemedicine in Primary Care, Department of Preventive- and Social Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1090 Wien, Austria
Sara Willems: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-13

Abstract: COVID-19 proved that primary care (PC) providers have an important role in managing health emergencies, such as epidemics. Little is known about the preparedness of primary care practice infrastructure to continue providing high quality care during this crisis. The aim of this paper is to describe the perceived limitations to the infrastructure of PC practices during COVID-19 and to determine the factors associated with a higher likelihood of infrastructural barriers in providing high quality care. This paper presents the results of an online survey conducted between November 2020 and November 2021 as a part of PRICOV-19 study. Data from 4974 practices in 33 countries regarding perceived limitations and intentions to make future adjustments to practice infrastructure as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic were collected. Approximately 58% of practices experienced limitations to the building or other practice infrastructure to provide high-quality and safe care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 54% making adjustments to the building or the infrastructure was considered. Large variations between the countries were found. The results show that infrastructure constraints were directly proportional to the size of the practice. Better pandemic infection control equipment, governmental support, and a fee-for-service payment system were found to be associated with a lower perceived need for infrastructural changes. The results of the study indicate the need for systematic support for the development of practice infrastructure in order to provide high-quality, safe primary care in the event of future crises similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: primary care/family medicine; general practice; infrastructure; COVID-19 pandemic; pandemic preparedness; quality of care; infection prevention and control; patient safety; PRICOV-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/17015/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/17015/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:17015-:d:1007253

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().