Management of Patients with COVID-19 at the Level OF PMC in Ukraine: Analysis of the Results of the Survey of Family Doctors in Comparison with Worldwide

Abstract

The emergence of the new infectious agent SARS COVID-19 quickly led to an epidemic and later a pandemic in 2020. Currently, the world has accumulated enough descriptive data on the management of patients with COVID-19, but many countries have not yet clearly developed evidence protocols for different levels medical care. Therefore, it is actual to conduct a comparative analysis of the management of patients with coronavirus infection at the level of PMC in different countries.

The objective: to conduct a comparative analysis of the management of COVID-19 patients at the level of PMC in different countries and in Ukraine.

Materials and methods. Data from family physicians from 9 countries on the management of COVID-19 patients at the PMC level (which were presented in the form of reports with answers to 5 questions at the international conference «Hot topic: COVID-19 and comorbid conditions in primary care» 3–5 December 2020). The results of a survey of Ukrainian family doctors conducted by an online survey were also evaluated. The answers of Ukrainian family doctors were received in the process of anonymous questionnaires in the format of Google-forms from November to December 2020.

Results. The analysis of reports of international experts and survey data of domestic doctors revealed similar features in treatment strategies, diagnosis and control strategies for recovery of patients at the level of PMC: for example, assessment of the patient’s condition by pulse oximetry, respiratory rate, telephone and video triage etc. However, certain directions in the domestic routine medical practice differed significantly from those in the management of patients by family physicians in the world (for example, the widespread use of antibiotics, anticoagulants and many other additional means, frequent unjustified use of CT by primary care physicians colleagues at the PMC level.

Conclusions. A comparative analysis of diagnosis and treatment revealed both similar (diagnostic methods, assessment of patients’ condition) and distinctive features (hyperdiagnosis and оver-treatment) in the management of COVID-19 in Ukraine, compared to global strategies.