Browsing by Author "Mrduljas-Dujic, Natasa"

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Citation - WoS: 13
Citation - Scopus: 12
Patient Consultations During Sars-Cov Pandemic: a Mixed-Method Cross-Sectional Study in 16 European Countries
(Coll Medicine & Dentistry James Cook Univ Townsville, 2022) Petrazzuoli, Ferdinando; Gokdemir, Ozden; Antonopoulou, Maria; Blahova, Beata; Mrduljas-Dujic, Natasa; Dumitra, Gindrovel; Falanga, Rosario; Kurpas, Donata; Mrduljaš-Đujić, Natasa
Introduction: Remote consultations help reduce contact between people and prevent cross-contamination. Little is known about the changes in consultation in European rural primary care during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. The purpose of this mixed-methods cross-sectional study was to find out more about the effects of the pandemic on changes in patient consultations in European rural primary care.Methods: A key informant survey from 16 member countries of the European Rural and Isolated Practitioners Association (EURIPA) was undertaken using a self-developed questionnaire. The steering committee of this project, called EURIPA Covid-19 study, developed a semi-structured questionnaire with 68 questions, 21 of which included free-text comments. Proportions were calculated for dichotomized or categorized data, and means were calculated for continuous data. Multivariate analysis by logistic regression model was used to assess the association of multiple variables. Results: A total of 406 questionnaires from primary care providers (PCPs) in 16 European countries were collected; 245 respondents (60.5%) were females, 152 PCPs were rural (37.5%), 124 semi-rural (30.5%). Mean age of the respondents was 45.9 years (standard deviation (SD) 11.30) while mean seniority (length of experience) was 18.2 years (SD 11.6). A total of 381 (93.8%) respondents were medical doctors. Significant differences were found between countries in adopting alternative arrangements to face-to-face consultation: remote teleconsultation is well appreciated by both healthcare professionals and patients, but the most common way of remote consultation remains telephone consultation. A factor significantly inversely associated with the adoption of video consultation was the seniority of the PCP (odds ratio 1.19, 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.40, p=0.03).Conclusion: Telephone consultation is the most common form of remote consultation. The adoption of video-consultation is inversely related to the seniority of the informants.
Citation - WoS: 2
Citation - Scopus: 1
Resilience of Primary Healthcare Facilities: Experiences From 16 European Countries During the Covid-19 Pandemic. a Mixed-Methods Study Conducted by Euripa
(Wroclaw Medical Univ, 2025) Petrazzuoli, F.; Gokdemir, O.; Antonopoulou, M.; Blahová, B.; Mrduljaš-Đujić, N.; Dumitra, G.G.; Kurpas, D.; Mrduljas-Dujic, Natasa
BACKGROUND: The role of primary healthcare (PHC) during a pandemic varies across European countries. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has altered the working practices of family medicine doctors and impacted the resilience of healthcare systems. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine European healthcare system responses to the pandemic, focusing on rural and urban differences. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study used a semi-structured online questionnaire with 68 questions, including 21 free-text comments. Data were collected from May 2020 to January 2021. Key informants from 16 European Rural and Isolated Practitioners Association (EURIPA) member countries distributed questionnaires to 406 PHC doctors. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests (χ2, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U) with a significance threshold of 0.05. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was found between rural (36.4%, 55/151), semirural (19.4%, 24/124) and urban populations (29.8%, 39/131) regarding medicine shortages (χ2 = 9.91, degrees of freedom (df) = 4, p = 0.042). The semirural setting showed a statistically significant difference from the other settings (p = 0.004 in post hoc χ2 test). Significant differences were found between countries in resilience features including, effectiveness of triage, adapting to the rapidly changing requirements, government help, existence of a community resilience group, improved interprofessional collaboration, medicine shortage, and general practitioners (GPs) involvement in palliative care. CONCLUSIONS: Medicine shortage was more prevalent in rural and urban areas compared to semirural areas. Differences were observed between countries in their responses to the pandemic, particularly in adapting to the rapidly changing requirements, effectiveness of triage, government help, and the existence of a community resilience group. These differences were confirmed with qualitative analysis. The results emphasize the need for tailored approaches considering diverse contexts in shaping effective healthcare system resilience.