BACKGROUND The canton of Vaud's public health authorities, in Switzerland, invited general practitioners (GPs) to participate in managing suspected COVID-19 patients and continue caring for their non-COVID-19 patients. However, this course of action was not mandatory. The present study's objective was to describe and understand how involved GPs were in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic's first wave. METHODS This mixed-methods study combined a retrospective quantitative survey and a qualitative explanatory investigation. All of the canton's GPs were invited to participate in the quantitative survey via an online questionnaire including sections on: specific organization regarding COVID-19 activities and suspected COVID-19 patients, activities relating to non-COVID-19 patients, consequences on the practice's professional staff, and opinions about the public health authorities' pandemic crisis management. The qualitative investigation involved interviews with 10 volunteer GPs. RESULTS The participation rate was 41%. One third of GPs chose not to reorganize their practice for the specific management of suspected COVID-19 patients. The number of weekly activities and interventions decreased by over 50% at 44% of practices, mostly due to a lack of patients. Even in an extraordinary crisis, GPs maintained their choice of whether to become involved, as their private and independent status allowed them to do. However, those who chose to be involved felt frustrated that the public health authorities did not recognize them as major health providers in the management of the pandemic. CONCLUSION This study illustrated the complexity and limitations of a primary care system based completely on private healthcare providers.

中文翻译：

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全科医生在私人医疗保健系统中管理 COVID-19 大流行中的作用。

背景 瑞士沃州公共卫生当局邀请全科医生 (GP) 参与管理疑似 COVID-19 患者并继续照顾他们的非 COVID-19 患者。然而，这一行动过程不是强制性的。本研究的目的是描述和了解全科医生如何参与应对 COVID-19 大流行的第一波浪潮。方法 这项混合方法研究结合了回顾性定量调查和定性解释性调查。该州的所有 GP 都被邀请通过在线问卷参与定量调查，问卷包括以下部分：关于 COVID-19 活动和疑似 COVID-19 患者的具体组织、与非 COVID-19 患者相关的活动、对执业专业人士的影响职员，以及对公共卫生部门大流行危机管理的意见。定性调查涉及对 10 名志愿全科医生的采访。结果参与率为41%。三分之一的全科医生选择不为疑似 COVID-19 患者的具体管理重新组织他们的实践。在 44% 的实践中，每周活动和干预的数量减少了 50% 以上，这主要是由于缺乏患者。即使在一场非同寻常的危机中，全科医生仍然选择是否参与，因为他们的私人和独立身份允许他们这样做。然而，那些选择参与的人感到沮丧的是，公共卫生当局没有承认他们是大流行管理中的主要卫生提供者。