Abstract
BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Health asked Singapore’s private general practitioners (GPs) to perform swab testing in their clinics, but some GPs had concerns about swabber protection. Our aim was to develop a swabbing booth to address these concerns.MethodsWe developed a prototype with potential GP users using a human-centred design approach and piloted it with 10 GP clinics. The pilot was then extended to 170 GP clinics around Singapore. These GPs were then surveyed on user satisfaction.ResultsNinety-three GPs (54%) responded. The majority (75%) practiced in public residential estates in small practices (mean 1.95 doctors). 86% requested the booth to enhance swabber protection. 74% “would recommend” or “would strongly recommend” the booth to colleagues. 79% continue to use the booth to conduct swab tests. 92% liked that it offered swabber protection. 71% liked that the booth created a separate space for swabbing and 64% liked its ease of disinfection. 47% started swabbing only after receiving the booth and 58% said the booth was “important” or “very important” to their decision to participate in swab testing. However, 34% disliked that it took up too much space and the most frequently critiqued area was the gloves.ConclusionThe human-centred design approach generated a product that had high user satisfaction, addressed GPs’ concerns of swabber protection and increased GPs’ participation in swab testing. The booth may be useful where GPs are concerned about swabber protection and space is limited.
Highlights
Private general practitioners (GPs) are in the frontline of Singapore’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
We extended the pilot to all Public Health Preparedness Clinic (PHPC) GPs, inviting applications for a booth via a mass e-mail from the College of Family Physicians to their members, and via messages to chat groups of Primary Care Networks (PCNs)
We assessed overall satisfaction by whether the GPs were still using the booth at the time of the survey and whether they would recommend it to other GPs
Summary
Private general practitioners (GPs) are in the frontline of Singapore’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are 1700 private GP clinics in Singapore, which provide 80% of Singapore’s primary care [1]. Amid rising daily cases in March 2020, the Ministry of Health encouraged PHPCs to participate in the Swab-and-Send Home (SASH) Programme, which aimed to expand disease surveillance and support rapid case finding [5]. PHPCs on SASH would offer patients with acute respiratory illness same-day COVID-19 swab testing within the clinic. GPs were concerned about swabber protection and premise contamination as patients often coughed or sneezed while being swabbed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Health asked Singapore’s private general practitioners (GPs) to perform swab testing in their clinics, but some GPs had concerns about swabber protection.
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