Family practice
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Promoting health via a community approach is one of the most effective strategies for reducing the current incidence of chronic diseases. Primary care (PC), through the implementation of community activities (CA), has the potential to achieve this goal. Yet the implementation of CA at health centers is not standardized and is often thanks only to the voluntariness of health professionals. ⋯ PC professionals find it difficult to identify CA and SPr interventions. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the training of these professionals in the implementation of CA with a view to enhancing population health, reducing the incidence of chronic diseases, and helping lessen the healthcare burden of the health system.
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This article aims to examine patient safety in general practice during COVID-19. ⋯ The results demonstrated that European GP practices adopted numerous measures to deliver safe care during COVID-19. However, multilayered interventions are needed to improve infection control and GP practice accessibility in future pandemics.
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Guidelines recommend follow-up within 2 weeks for patients starting medication for depression. Knowledge is lacking about how general practitioners' (GPs) follow-up varies with patients' sociodemographic characteristics. ⋯ Differences in age and educational level were associated with follow-up of depressed patients who started medication. This may indicate unwarranted variation in depression care that GPs should consider when prescribing antidepressants.
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The evolving landscape of general practice (GP)/family medicine (FM) in the post-COVID-19 era, focussing on integrating telemedicine and remote consultations requires a new definition for this specialty. Hence, a broader consensus-based definition of post-COVID-19 GP/FM is warranted. ⋯ The study highlights the importance of continuity of care, prevention, and coordination with other healthcare professionals as core values of primary care. It also reflects the role of GP/FM in addressing new challenges post-pandemic, such as healthcare delivery beyond standard face-to-face care (e.g. remote consultations) and an increasingly important role in the prevention of infectious diseases. This underscores the need for ongoing research and patient involvement to continually refine and improve primary healthcare delivery in response to changing healthcare landscapes.