The role of primary care during the pandemic: shared experiences from providers in five European countries

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated wide-ranging adaptations to the organisation of health systems, and primary care is no exception. This article aims to collate insights on the role of primary care during the pandemic. The gained knowledge helps to increase pandemic preparedness and resilience. METHODS: The role of primary care during the pandemic in five European countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy) was investigated using a qualitative approach, namely case study, based on document analysis and semi-structured interviews. In total, 31 interviews were conducted with primary care providers between June and August 2022. The five country case studies were subjected to an overarching analysis focusing on successful strategies as well as gaps and failures regarding pandemic management in primary care. RESULTS: Primary care providers identified disruptions to service delivery as a major challenge emerging from the pandemic which led to a widespread adoption of telehealth. Despite the rapid increase in telehealth usage and efforts of primary care providers to organise face-to-face care delivery in a safe way, some patient groups were particularly affected by disruptions in service delivery. Moreover, primary care providers perceived a substantial propagation of misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines among the population, which also threatened patient-physician relationships. At the same time, primary care providers faced an increased workload, had to work with insufficient personal protective equipment and were provided incongruous guidelines from public authorities. There was a consensus among primary care providers that they were mostly sidelined by public health policy in the context of pandemic management. Primary care providers tackled these problems through a diverse set of measures including home visits, implementing infection control measures, refurbishing used masks, holding internal meetings and relying on their own experiences as well as information shared by colleagues. CONCLUSION: Primary care providers were neither well prepared nor the focus of initial policy making. However, they implemented creative solutions to the problems they faced and applying the learnings from the pandemic could help in increasing the resilience of primary care. Attributes of an integrated health system with a strong primary care component proved beneficial in addressing immediate effects of the pandemic

Defining the Characteristics of an e-Health Tool for Suicide Primary Prevention in the General Population: The StopBlues Case in France

International audienceWith over one million deaths per year in the world, suicide is a major public health problem that could be significantly reduced by effective prevention programs. E-health tools are of particular interest for primary prevention as they can address a broad population including people unaware of their own risk and provide information and help without the fear of stigma. Our main objective was to define the overall characteristics of an e-health tool for suicide primary prevention in the French general population by defining the characteristics of the IT features; the content of the information delivered; the best way to structure it; and how it should be relayed and by whom. The research was carried out through a literature review and a co-construction phase with stakeholders. Four types of strategies may guide the construction of e-health tools for suicide primary prevention: education and awareness, (self-)screening, accessing support, and mental health coping. They should be accessible on different devices to reach the most users, and language and content should be adapted to the target population and to the issue being addressed. Finally, the tool should be consistent with ethical and quality best practices. The e-health tool StopBlues was developed following those recommendations.</div

L'ordinaire des sciences et techniques. Cultures populaires, cultures informelles (1)

International audienceLa présente édition de la Lucarne matérialise la poursuite d’un travail engagé depuis 2013. Il a été réalisé dans le cadre d’un atelier collaboratif d’histoire socioculturelle. L’atelier lui-même est animé par un collectif formé des enseignant∙e∙s et auditeur∙rice∙s des formations du CNAM dédiées à la médiation socioculturelle des sciences et techniques. Certificat de compétences, Licence professionnelle ou Magister s’attèlent ainsi à la réflexion, à la conception et à la réalisation de dispositifs pour la médiation des sciences et techniques en société par le design culturel. C’est dans ce cadre de réalisation pédagogique que sont rassemblés ces textes et documents pour lesquels sont proposés de courtes analyses sur leur fonction de support de diffusion massive dans l’espace public d’une culture populaire et ordinaire des sciences et techniques. Tous ont été rédigés dans le cadre d’un exercice exigé pour la validation d’un enseignement. Si le résultat final peut s’avérer inégalement satisfaisant à l’aune des critères de leurs commanditaires, tous les textes apportent cependant un regard jugé pertinent sur un des aspects des manifestations des sciences et techniques dans leurs rapports à la société au travers de la production et de la consommation culturelle de masse. Quelques-uns ont été un peu remaniés pour la présente édition. Retrouvez-les tous, ainsi que d’autres non publiés dans ce volume, sur le site de la Lucarne : http://ateliercst.hypotheses.org