Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Jun 14, 2023
Date Accepted: Nov 3, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Impact of COVID-19 on the paediatric primary care model in Catalonia: analysis of changes in the number and type of face-to-face and remote visits
ABSTRACT
Background:
The outbreak of COVID-19 has turned the care model of health systems around the world upside down. The healthcare crisis has led to opportunities for digital health to deliver quality care and the system has been redirected towards telemedicine. In Catalonia (Spain), as of March 2020, the pattern of visits in paediatric primary care consultations changed, such that face-to-face visits decreased in favour of non-face-to-face visits.
Objective:
To analyse variations in the types of visits in the field of paediatrics in primary care centres in Catalonia before and after the onset of COVID-19.
Methods:
Descriptive observational study based on administrative data. The number and type of visits to primary care paediatrics in Catalonia during the time interval between January 2019 and December 2022 were studied.
Results:
A drop of more than 80% in face-to-face visits and an increase of up to fifteen times in remote visits was observed as of March 2020 compared to the previous year. Subsequently, the face-to-face attendance rate began to recover, although it did not reach the same rate as before COVID-19. Non-face-to-face visits were maintained, representing more than 20% of the total after more than two years of the pandemic.
Conclusions:
COVID-19 has been the trigger for a transition in the types of visits to primary care paediatric services. It has meant a paradigm shift from the essentially face-to-face care model to the permanent incorporation of digital health in daily paediatric activity. Clinical Trial: -
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