Primary health care organization in the Covid-19 pandemic: scoping review.

Abstract

Mapping available scientific evidence on the organization of primary health care services and professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a scoping review that followed the Joanna Briggs Institute method. Articles published in Portuguese, Spanish, and English from January 2020 to January 2021 in the CINAHL, Lilacs, Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science databases were included. We selected 24 articles that presented the reorganization of primary health care services and professionals to care suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases. Coordination measures to tackle this disease in primary health care help to control its infection, especially by the active search for respiratory symptoms, the detection of new cases, and the monitoring of confirmed cases. This study presents an overview of how primary health care services and professionals organized themselves to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, addressing adjustments in infrastructure and care flows, such as establishing specific Covid-19 care units, separating infected and non-infected patients, using telemedicine as an alternative modality of care, and monitoring cases by applications and phone.