The experiences and thoughts of Turkish family physicians about COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study
Date
14.02.2023Author
Ayhan Başer, DuyguDöner Güner, Pınar
Gümüştakım, Raziye Şule
Ağadayı, Ezgi
Aksoy, Hilal
Fidancı, İzzet
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Background: Efforts to contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus would fall short without strong primary health
care.
Objectives: In this study, we aimed to determine the experiences, views and suggestions of
family physicians regarding their roles, primary care health systems’ preparedness and the challenges/
needs for a better organisation during the pandemic via in-depth exploration.
Methods: Twenty-one family physicians working in different cities of Turkey participated in
semi-structured interviews between 15/08/2020-21/01/2021. Convenience sampling was used.
We did this qualitative study through interviews by telephone. Participants were asked seven
open-ended questions. Thematic analysis was used, which included reading the transcript, identifying
significant phrases and formulating meanings and validating meanings through research
team discussions to reach consensus, identifying themes.
Results: Ten of the participants were female and the average age of the participants was 39.5 (SD ¼
10.5) years. Twelve of the family physicians are specialists in family medicine. Four themes were identified:
role of primary care in the pandemic, pandemic preparedness of primary care, challenges of working
in primary care centres during the COVID-19 pandemics, and approaches to future pandemics.
Conclusion: Our study showed that, despite unprepared primary care and undefined roles of family
physicians in pandemic planning, family physicians played a significant role in pandemic management.