Role of Primary Care Physician in COVID-19 Response: A Review
Faisal Suliman Algaows *
King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard , Iskan PHC, Saudi Arabia.
Amro Youssef A. Elias
King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulwahab Abdulmannan M. Alshaikh
King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia.
Rawan Saleh Nabzah
Najran University, Saudi Arabia.
Anas Ebrahim Almejewil
C1-Primary Health Care, Saudi Arabia.
Daad Taha Fouly
Al-Qassim University, Saudi Arabia.
Zainab Jaber A. Al Mubarak
Al-Ahsa Health Cluster- MCH, Saudi Arabia.
Mossab Mohammad F. Al Dosary
Imam Mohammad Bin Soud University, Saudi Arabia.
Abdullah Adel A. Alnaim
King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulaziz Aoudah T. Al Dhabaan
Asir Central Hospital, Saudi Arabia.
Yousef Ali Abdali
King Fahad Central Hospital, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulrahman Abdullah Alkhulayfi
College of Medicine, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammad Rajab Alkhalaf
King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulmajeed Mohammad S. Alibrahem
Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
Yasser Hamoud M. Alanazi
North Medical Tower, Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
All healthcare providers have had to adapt and be flexible in order to respond to COVID-19. Nonetheless, the emphasis, particularly at the start of the outbreak, was on the impact and response of secondary and tertiary care. The primary care sector's responsibilities in the response focused on how it could help secondary and tertiary care centers respond. A small percentage of current research and evidence focuses on health services implications or applied public health approaches, with even fewer on the role of primary care and family medicine providers. So, while our scientific understanding of the virus and its subsequent clinical consequences has grown exponentially, information about primary care responses to COVID-19 in a variety of settings, as well as the interaction with patient perspectives and priorities, and broader public health responsibilities, remains significantly hazier.
Keywords: Primary care, physician, COVID - 19, mutant variants, healthcare, community health