Cargando…

Pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in India—A qualitative descriptive study

India has one of the most unequal healthcare systems globally, lagging behind its economic development. Improved primary care and primary health care play an integral role in overcoming health disparities. Family medicine is a subset of primary care—delivered by family physicians, characterized by c...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gupta, Archna, Prasad, Ramakrishna, Abraham, Sunil, Nedungalaparambil, Nisanth Menon, Landes, Megan, Steele Gray, Carolyn, Sridharan, Sanjeev, Bhattacharyya, Onil
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10249806/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37289670
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001972
_version_ 1785055621457903616
author Gupta, Archna
Prasad, Ramakrishna
Abraham, Sunil
Nedungalaparambil, Nisanth Menon
Landes, Megan
Steele Gray, Carolyn
Sridharan, Sanjeev
Bhattacharyya, Onil
author_facet Gupta, Archna
Prasad, Ramakrishna
Abraham, Sunil
Nedungalaparambil, Nisanth Menon
Landes, Megan
Steele Gray, Carolyn
Sridharan, Sanjeev
Bhattacharyya, Onil
author_sort Gupta, Archna
collection PubMed
description India has one of the most unequal healthcare systems globally, lagging behind its economic development. Improved primary care and primary health care play an integral role in overcoming health disparities. Family medicine is a subset of primary care—delivered by family physicians, characterized by comprehensive, continuous, coordinated, collaborative, personal, family and community-oriented services—and may be able to fill these gaps. This research aims to understand the potential mechanisms by which family physicians can strengthen primary health care. In this qualitative descriptive study, we interviewed twenty family physicians, identified by purposeful and snowball sampling, who are among the first family physicians in India who received accredited certification in FM and were identified as pioneers of family medicine. We used the Contribution of Family Medicine to Strengthening Primary Health Care Framework to understand the potential mechanisms by which family medicine strengthens primary health care. Iterative inductive techniques were used for analysis. This research identifies multiple ways family physicians can strengthen primary health care in India. They are skilled primary care providers and support mid and low-level health care providers’ ongoing training and capacity building. They develop relationships with specialists, ensure appropriate referral systems are in place, and, when necessary, work with governments and organizations to access the essential resources needed to deliver care. They motivate the workforce and change how care is delivered by ensuring providers’ skills match the needs of communities and engage communities as partners in healthcare delivery. These findings highlight multiple mechanisms by which family physicians strengthen primary health care. Investments in postgraduate training in family medicine and integrating family physicians into the primary care sector, particularly the public sector, could address health disparities.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10249806
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-102498062023-06-09 Pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in India—A qualitative descriptive study Gupta, Archna Prasad, Ramakrishna Abraham, Sunil Nedungalaparambil, Nisanth Menon Landes, Megan Steele Gray, Carolyn Sridharan, Sanjeev Bhattacharyya, Onil PLOS Glob Public Health Research Article India has one of the most unequal healthcare systems globally, lagging behind its economic development. Improved primary care and primary health care play an integral role in overcoming health disparities. Family medicine is a subset of primary care—delivered by family physicians, characterized by comprehensive, continuous, coordinated, collaborative, personal, family and community-oriented services—and may be able to fill these gaps. This research aims to understand the potential mechanisms by which family physicians can strengthen primary health care. In this qualitative descriptive study, we interviewed twenty family physicians, identified by purposeful and snowball sampling, who are among the first family physicians in India who received accredited certification in FM and were identified as pioneers of family medicine. We used the Contribution of Family Medicine to Strengthening Primary Health Care Framework to understand the potential mechanisms by which family medicine strengthens primary health care. Iterative inductive techniques were used for analysis. This research identifies multiple ways family physicians can strengthen primary health care in India. They are skilled primary care providers and support mid and low-level health care providers’ ongoing training and capacity building. They develop relationships with specialists, ensure appropriate referral systems are in place, and, when necessary, work with governments and organizations to access the essential resources needed to deliver care. They motivate the workforce and change how care is delivered by ensuring providers’ skills match the needs of communities and engage communities as partners in healthcare delivery. These findings highlight multiple mechanisms by which family physicians strengthen primary health care. Investments in postgraduate training in family medicine and integrating family physicians into the primary care sector, particularly the public sector, could address health disparities. Public Library of Science 2023-06-08 /pmc/articles/PMC10249806/ /pubmed/37289670 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001972 Text en © 2023 Gupta et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Gupta, Archna
Prasad, Ramakrishna
Abraham, Sunil
Nedungalaparambil, Nisanth Menon
Landes, Megan
Steele Gray, Carolyn
Sridharan, Sanjeev
Bhattacharyya, Onil
Pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in India—A qualitative descriptive study
title Pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in India—A qualitative descriptive study
title_full Pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in India—A qualitative descriptive study
title_fullStr Pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in India—A qualitative descriptive study
title_full_unstemmed Pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in India—A qualitative descriptive study
title_short Pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in India—A qualitative descriptive study
title_sort pioneering family physicians and the mechanisms for strengthening primary health care in india—a qualitative descriptive study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10249806/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37289670
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001972
work_keys_str_mv AT guptaarchna pioneeringfamilyphysiciansandthemechanismsforstrengtheningprimaryhealthcareinindiaaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT prasadramakrishna pioneeringfamilyphysiciansandthemechanismsforstrengtheningprimaryhealthcareinindiaaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT abrahamsunil pioneeringfamilyphysiciansandthemechanismsforstrengtheningprimaryhealthcareinindiaaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT nedungalaparambilnisanthmenon pioneeringfamilyphysiciansandthemechanismsforstrengtheningprimaryhealthcareinindiaaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT landesmegan pioneeringfamilyphysiciansandthemechanismsforstrengtheningprimaryhealthcareinindiaaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT steelegraycarolyn pioneeringfamilyphysiciansandthemechanismsforstrengtheningprimaryhealthcareinindiaaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT sridharansanjeev pioneeringfamilyphysiciansandthemechanismsforstrengtheningprimaryhealthcareinindiaaqualitativedescriptivestudy
AT bhattacharyyaonil pioneeringfamilyphysiciansandthemechanismsforstrengtheningprimaryhealthcareinindiaaqualitativedescriptivestudy