A Family Medicine response to the COVID-19 lockdown: University of Pretoria perspective

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic caused great social, political and economic disruption, and imposed unprecedented changes in work, lifestyle, service delivery and social interactions in South Africa and worldwide. Healthcare providers, working in often already overstretched healthcare systems, found themselves at the forefront of global and national efforts to contain the havoc of morbidity and mortality wreaked by SARS-CoV2. This chapter describes efforts by the University of Pretoria’s Department of Family Medicine (UPDFM) to deliver on its mandate of teaching, learning, and research in the face of the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic during the March-September 2020 nationwide hard lockdown. Methods A perspective review was undertaken, drawing on reports, meeting minutes, email correspondences and electronic personal communications analysed to describe the activities undertaken by the UPDFM during the study period. Results Nationally, some of the adaptive responses triggered by the COVID-19 lockdown drew from the pre-existing UPDFM repertoire of community-oriented, learner- and patient-centred practices of service delivery. Key among these practices were data collection and management using validated tools; virtual communication and meetings; health promotion and disease prevention through training nurses, community health workers and patients on newly developed Covid-19 prevention strategies; clinical intervention, including screening and diagnosis, treatment and care coordination using telemedicine and full service delivery in homeless shelters; patient referral/mobility by staff using sponsored rental cars and using an application to call an ambulance, and treatment continuation through home delivery of medication. Conclusions COVID-19 restrictions presented the UPDFM with a unique opportunity to draw from its experience and create rapid, impactful interventions. Most lessons learnt by the UPDFM during the crisis proved invaluable for use beyond the acute phase of the pandemic, thereby transforming the health system for better pandemic preparedness.