• Rosy Tsopra, Paul Frappe, Sven Streit, Ana Luisa Neves, Persijn J Honkoop, Ana Belen Espinosa-Gonzalez, Berk Geroğlu, Tobias Jahr, Heidrun Lingner, Katarzyna Nessler, Gabriella Pesolillo, Øyvind Stople Sivertsen, Hans Thulesius, Raluca Zoitanu, Anita Burgun, and Shérazade Kinouani.
• INSERM, Université de Paris, Sorbonne Université, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Information Sciences to support Personalized Medicine, F-75006, Paris, France. rosy.tsopra@nhs.net.
• Bmc Fam Pract. 2021 May 17; 22 (1): 96.

BackgroundGeneral practitioners (GPs) play a key role in managing the COVID-19 outbreak. However, they may encounter difficulties adapting their practices to the pandemic. We provide here an analysis of guidelines for the reorganisation of GP surgeries during the beginning of the pandemic from 15 countries.MethodsA network of GPs collaborated together in a three-step process: (i) identification of key recommendations of GP surgery reorganisation, according to WHO, CDC and health professional resources from health care facilities; (ii) collection of key recommendations included in the guidelines published in 15 countries; (iii) analysis, comparison and synthesis of the results.ResultsRecommendations for the reorganisation of GP surgeries of four types were identified: (i) reorganisation of GP consultations (cancelation of non-urgent consultations, follow-up via e-consultations), (ii) reorganisation of GP surgeries (area partitioning, visual alerts and signs, strict hygiene measures), (iii) reorganisation of medical examinations by GPs (equipment, hygiene, partial clinical examinations, patient education), (iv) reorganisation of GP staff (equipment, management, meetings, collaboration with the local community).ConclusionsWe provide here an analysis of guidelines for the reorganisation of GP surgeries during the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak from 15 countries. These guidelines focus principally on clinical care, with less attention paid to staff management, and the area of epidemiological surveillance and research is largely neglected. The differences of guidelines between countries and the difficulty to apply them in routine care, highlight the need of advanced research in primary care. Thereby, primary care would be able to provide recommendations adapted to the real-world settings and with stronger evidence, which is especially necessary during pandemics.

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