Family Practice is seeking submissions for a special issue on "Primary Care Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic".

As of September 2020, COVID-19 has infected 32 million people, resulting in a million deaths worldwide. It is well known that the pandemic has impacted primary care in many ways, such as severe declines in clinical volumes and revenues, interruption in preventive care services, and adverse impact on clinician well-being. Equally important, are numerous potential long-term clinical impacts and distressing ongoing chronic health issues. Primary care training has suffered due to limitations on personal protective equipment, quarantine of health care workers, and a reduced morale amongst practicing physicians. Rapid adoption of telehealth, and outreach to existing patient populations has created a new method of care delivery, while concurrently creating a multitude of questions about effectiveness and financial stability.

As the primary care practice assumes an increasingly central role in screening, treatment and monitoring of longer term pandemic repercussions, multifaceted research insights will be required to provide timely, yet accurate evaluations of infection vectors, disease patterns, acute and chronic symptom recognition, developing pharmaceutical and other treatment modalities, and the impact of appropriate referrals as needed. In addition, patient and provider  psychological responses to the COVID-19 threat, and consequences of imposed periods of isolation need to be understood. Studies of health disparities that go beyond physical health are needed to understand long-term consequences of the pandemic. As the COVID-19 disease presentation continues to evolve, a recognition of individual patient needs, and greater population level burden must be continually reassessed. This call for papers seeks outstanding manuscripts that address one or more of the following priority areas, with submissions encouraged from primary care professionals as well as those with special expertise in epidemiology, health services research, qualitative research, clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, case reports and other types of studies as described on our website: https://academic.oup.com/fampra/pages/General_Instructions

  1. Defining the role of primary care in the COVID-19 pandemic within the recommendations of international and national experts, and emerging governmental policies
  2. Adoption and effectiveness of telehealth in the context of screening and management
  3. Methods to re-establish chronic and preventive care delivery during the pandemic
  4. New models of reimbursement of primary care
  5. Positioning primary care practices as the logical partner in vaccine delivery and emerging therapeutics delivery
  6. Evaluating primary care as the frontline providers for patients with behavioral health and substance abuse conditions
  7. Impact on education, training, and the well-being of primary care providers

Note: Manuscripts limited to the virological aspects of the COVID 19 pandemic will not be responsive to this call for papers

DEADLINE: The deadline for consideration for this theme issue is March 1, 2021

** To ensure the manuscript topic aligns with these criteria, we encourage authors to send an abstract and contact the special issue editors before submitting: Dr. John Zeber (jzeber@umass.edu) and Dr. Niharika Khanna (NKhanna@som.umaryland.edu)

SUBMISSION TIPS

Submissions should include a statement in the cover letter that confirms the manuscript is intended for the “Primary care Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” call for papers. All Family Practice submissions are peer-reviewed and acceptance is not guaranteed. Invitation to submit a manuscript does not guarantee final acceptance for publication.