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The Organization of Outreach Work for Vulnerable Patients in General Practice during COVID-19: Results from the Cross-Sectional PRICOV-19 Study in 38 Countries.

Stark, S; Willems, S; Schaubroeck, E; Mallen, C; Murauskiene, L; Šantrić Milićević, M; Gabrani, J; Bojaj, G; Groenewegen, P; Spreeuwenberg, P; Van Poel, E; Collins, C

The Organization of Outreach Work for Vulnerable Patients in General Practice during COVID-19: Results from the Cross-Sectional PRICOV-19 Study in 38 Countries. Thumbnail


Authors

S Stark

S Willems

E Schaubroeck

L Murauskiene

M Šantrić Milićević

J Gabrani

G Bojaj

P Groenewegen

P Spreeuwenberg

E Van Poel

C Collins



Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected vulnerable populations' access to health care. By proactively reaching out to them, general practices attempted to prevent the underutilization of their services. This paper examined the association between practice and country characteristics and the organization of outreach work in general practices during COVID-19. Linear mixed model analyses with practices nested in countries were performed on the data of 4982 practices from 38 countries. A 4-item scale on outreach work was constructed as the outcome variable with a reliability of 0.77 and 0.97 at the practice and country level. The results showed that many practices set up outreach work, including extracting at least one list of patients with chronic conditions from their electronic medical record (30.1%); and performing telephone outreach to patients with chronic conditions (62.8%), a psychological vulnerability (35.6%), or possible situation of domestic violence or a child-rearing situation (17.2%). Outreach work was positively related to the availability of an administrative assistant or practice manager (p < 0.05) or paramedical support staff (p < 0.01). Other practice and country characteristics were not significantly associated with undertaking outreach work. Policy and financial interventions supporting general practices to organize outreach work should focus on the range of personnel available to support such practice activities.

Acceptance Date Feb 7, 2023
Publication Date Feb 10, 2023
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Publisher MDPI
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043165
Publisher URL https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3165