SRFP003: Access to General Practice during COVID-19-a cross-sectional view of the opinions of adults who use social media

Gabriela Mineva, BSc; AOIBHIN MCCOOL; Bethany Rogers; Monika Volz, BMSc; Dana Pearl; Irene Kiroplis; Yasmin Abohalima, BSc; Patrick O'Donnell, MBChB, MSc; peter hayes

Abstract

Background/Aim: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual consultations have become commonplace, and access to healthcare more complex. The study was designed to examine the impact COVID-19 has had on access to general practice care in Ireland.
Methods: A 25-question online survey was designed in Qualtrics®. Adult patients of Irish general practices were recruited via social media between October 2020 and February 2021 and volunteered their opinions.
Results: 670 persons participated. Half of all doctor-patient consultations were now completed virtually-predominantly via telephone. Overall, 497 (78%) participants accessed their healthcare teams as scheduled, and without disruption. 18% of participants (n=104) reported difficulty in accessing their long-term medications; those who are younger, and those who typically attend general practice quarterly or more, were associated most with this disruption (p<0.05). Fifty-nine instances where a new health concern was subject to an appointment cancellation or rescheduling were reported.
Conclusions: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Irish general practice has maintained its schedule for appointments in 78% of cases despite the challenges of the pandemic. Half of consultations were provided virtually; teleconsultation use was very infrequent. Maintaining the supply chain for long-term medications for patients remains a challenge during a pandemic. Authors accept that study participants were confined to those who use social media. A protocol may need to be designed by each practice to optimize the continuation of care and of medication schedules during any future pandemics.
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Elena Koskinas
20118384@studentmail.ul.ie 11/20/2021

Amazing work everyone - so great to see some fellow UL students here!

Jack Westfall
jwestfall@aafp.org 11/21/2021

Terrific poster and presentation. So great to see more students working on primary care research. Welcome to NAPCRG. Thanks for your work.

Gillian Bartlett
gillian.bartlett@health.missouri.edu 11/21/2021

Very nice work - how do you think using social media to recruit affected your study? The long term medication impact is fascinating and I hope this gets explored more.

Diane Harper
harperdi@med.umich.edu 11/22/2021

Thank you for sharing your work with NAPCRG!

Andy Pasternak
avpiv711@sbcglobal.net 11/26/2021

Great timely study and it's comforting to see the issues seem to be the same across the globe

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