Design a policy package to improve the performance and role of primary health care in the management of infectious disease epidemics

Abstract

Introduction and purpose: Primary health care is the first level of dealing with the epidemic of infectious diseases. Therefore, it seems necessary to have a comprehensive guide to improve the performance and role of this department in better management of infectious disease epidemics. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a policy package for managing and improving the performance of the primary health care system in the epidemic of infectious diseases. Method: The present study is a multi-method study that was conducted in three phases between 2019 and 2019 at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Various approaches were used in this study, including a domain review to investigate the main roles of primary health care in the management of infectious disease epidemics, a qualitative study to examine the performance of the primary health care system in Iran against the Covid-19 pandemic. Qualitative purpose-based sampling was used and 37 people who were experts in the field of primary health care were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire developed by the researcher and the results were analyzed using the content analysis method. Finally, using the findings, semi-structured interviews and expert panel, a policy package was designed and validated using the Delphi method. Findings: According to the domain review results, 65 articles were included in the study. Initially, 626 codes were extracted and 132 final codes were categorized into 8 main roles, which include disease management, cooperation and communication, infrastructure reconstruction, service provision, education and knowledge, management and leadership, and patient and community management, and 30 secondary roles. According to the results of the qualitative study, 5 main activities of Iran's primary health care system in the covid-19 epidemic, including 1) diagnosis of the epidemic, 2) education, 3) making changes for response, 4) care and vaccination, and 5) cooperation and coordination were obtained, which include 13 It was a secondary activity. The compiled policy package includes 5 strategic issues including management and leadership, empowerment, provision and management of resources, coordination, service provision, monitoring and evaluation, 18 macro strategies and 98 executive interventions to improve the performance and role of primary health care in the management of infectious diseases. . Conclusion: The policy package developed in this study can be used by relevant policymakers and service providers to improve the performance and role of primary health care in better management of infectious disease epidemics. Keywords: pandemic, covid-19, policy package, management, performance improvement, primary health care