Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.
Faculty of Nursing, Memorial University, 300 Prince Philip Drive, St. John's, NL, A1B 3V6, Canada.
Hum Resour Health. 2024 Mar 4;22(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s12960-024-00901-4.
Family physicians (FPs) fill an essential role in public health emergencies yet have frequently been neglected in pandemic response plans. This exclusion harms FPs in their clinical roles and has unintended consequences in the management of concurrent personal responsibilities, many of which were amplified by the pandemic. The objective of our study was to explore the experiences of FPs during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic to better understand how they managed their competing professional and personal priorities.
We conducted semi-structured interviews with FPs from four Canadian regions between October 2020 and June 2021. Employing a maximum variation sampling approach, we recruited participants until we achieved saturation. Interviews explored FPs' personal and professional roles and responsibilities during the pandemic, the facilitators and barriers that they encountered, and any gender-related experiences. Transcribed interviews were thematically analysed.
We interviewed 68 FPs during the pandemic and identified four overarching themes in participants' discussion of their personal experiences: personal caregiving responsibilities, COVID-19 risk navigation to protect family members, personal health concerns, and available and desired personal supports for FPs to manage their competing responsibilities. While FPs expressed a variety of ways in which their personal experiences made their professional responsibilities more complicated, rarely did that affect the extent to which they participated in the pandemic response.
For FPs to contribute fully to a pandemic response, they must be factored into pandemic plans. Failure to appreciate their unique role and circumstances often leaves FPs feeling unsupported in both their professional and personal lives. Comprehensive planning in anticipation of future pandemics must consider FPs' varied responsibilities, health concerns, and necessary precautions. Having adequate personal and practice supports in place will facilitate the essential role of FPs in responding to a pandemic crisis while continuing to support their patients' primary care needs.
家庭医生在公共卫生紧急事件中发挥着重要作用，但在大流行应对计划中经常被忽视。这种忽视不仅对家庭医生的临床角色造成伤害，而且对他们同时管理个人责任的管理也产生了意外的后果，其中许多后果因大流行而加剧。我们研究的目的是探讨家庭医生在 COVID-19 大流行的第一年的经历，以更好地了解他们如何管理相互竞争的专业和个人优先事项。
我们在 2020 年 10 月至 2021 年 6 月期间对来自加拿大四个地区的家庭医生进行了半结构化访谈。采用最大变化抽样方法，招募参与者直至达到饱和。访谈探讨了家庭医生在大流行期间的个人和专业角色和责任、他们遇到的促进因素和障碍，以及任何与性别相关的经历。转录的访谈进行了主题分析。
我们在大流行期间采访了 68 名家庭医生，并在参与者讨论他们个人经历时确定了四个总体主题：个人护理责任、为保护家庭成员而进行的 COVID-19 风险导航、个人健康问题以及家庭医生管理竞争责任所需的现有和期望的个人支持。虽然家庭医生表达了他们个人经历使他们的专业责任更加复杂的各种方式，但这很少影响他们参与大流行应对的程度。
要让家庭医生充分参与大流行应对，就必须将他们纳入大流行计划。未能理解他们独特的角色和情况，往往会让家庭医生感到在个人和职业生活中都得不到支持。为未来的大流行进行全面规划必须考虑家庭医生的各种责任、健康问题和必要的预防措施。适当的个人和实践支持的到位将促进家庭医生在应对大流行危机方面发挥重要作用，同时继续满足患者的基本护理需求。
