The experiences and thoughts of Turkish family physicians about COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study

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 = 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.