Challenges of the Pandemic Response in Primary Care During Pre-Vaccination Period A Qualitative Study

The authors interviewed 65 primary care physicians in Australia, Israel, and England about their experiences during the 2009 influenza pandemic. Physicians in all three countries perceived difficulties in translating pandemic policies and guidelines into practice. The researchers attributed this to knowledge barriers (high volume of information and lack of time to keep pace, multiple sources of information, guidelines not oriented to primary care), primary care physician doubts about some guidelines, and operational difficulties associated with providing personalized consultations to patients hearing media reporting on policy changes before physicians received official updates from health authorities.