Background The COVID-19 pandemic poses major challenges to family medicine practices In a cross-sectional survey we investigated the caseload and the perceived challenges in Southern Bavarian primary care practices during the first phase of the pandemic Methods A four-page questionnaire was sent to all 210 practices accredited for under-graduate teaching of family medicine at the Medical Faculty of the Technical University of Munich Answers on closed questions were analyzed using descriptive statistics;free text answers were categorized inductively Results A total of 160 questionnaires were available for analysis (response rate 76 %) 92 % of participants had seen at least one patient with a SARS-CoV-2 infection, two colleagues saw more than 100 infected patients;the median number was 10 63 % had at least one patient hospitalized and 31 % at least one death associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection In contrast, only 23 % of the nursing homes looked after by the participants were affected by infections;in individual nursing homes, however, there were numerous hospitalizations and deaths In 18 % of practices at least one member of the team was tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 The most important challenges were the lack of protective equipment and the adaptation of the practice process to the pandemic situation With regard to a possible “second wave”, the need for protective equipment and a better flow of information were central issues Conclusions The caseload and consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 infections experienced by participants were highly variable A large proportion of the nursing homes remained without cases of infection The risk of infection for physicians and practice employees in the early phase was considerable © Deutscher Ärzteverlag
Case numbers and challenges in southern bavarian primary care practices during the COVID-19 pandemic