Family Medicine and Primary Care

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic : an urgent need to relook at the training of the African health workforce

Reid, Michael; Suleman, Fatima; De Villiers, Marietjie (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2020)

As of 11 March 2020, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic had infected over 120 000 people in more than 90 countries, of whom 4 369 had died. [1] As recent modelling analysis highlights, ...

Primary care management of the coronavirus (COVID-19)

Mash, Bob (AOSIS, 2020-03-31)

South Africa is in the grip of a novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Primary care providers are in the frontline. COVID-19 is spread primarily by respiratory droplets contaminating surfaces and hands that then transmit ...

Strengthening the district health system through family physicians

Mash, Bob; Von Pressentin, Klaus B. (Health Systems Trust, 2018)

In 2007, family medicine was recognised as a new speciality in South Africa and all eight medical schools began training specialist family physicians. The introduction of this new specialty can be regarded as a generic ...

How to improve the quality of care for women with postpartum haemorrhage at Onandjokwe Hospital, Namibia : quality improvement study

Nsangamay, Tshimanga; Mash, Bob (BMC (part of Springer Nature), 2019-12-11)

Background: Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is the leading direct cause of maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The sustainable development goals aim to reduce the maternal mortality ratio to 70 per 100,000 live births. ...

The epidemiology of operations performed by the National Sea Rescue Institute of South Africa over a 5-year period

Erasmus, Elaine; Robertson, Cleeve; Van Hoving, Daniel Jacobus (Via Medica, 2018)

Background: Injuries remain a major contributor of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with drowning accounting for 7% of all injury-related deaths with rates of between 4 and 8 per 100,000. The African region has death ...

Exploring the beliefs and attitudes of private general practitioners towards national health insurance in Cape Town, South Africa

Mathew, Sheena; Mash, Bob (AOSIS, 2019)

Background: Private general practitioner (GP) participation in the national health insurance (NHI) is necessary to address doctor shortages and achieve universal health coverage. An in-depth understanding of GP’s views on ...

Exploring resilience in family physicians working in primary health care in the Cape Metropole

Wagner, Leigh; Pather, Michael K. (AOSIS, 2019)

Background: Despite the high prevalence of burnout among doctors, studies have shown that some doctors who choose to remain in primary healthcare (PHC) survive, even thrive, despite stressful working conditions. The ability ...

Evaluating the performance of South African primary care : a cross-sectional descriptive survey

Bresick, Graham; Von Pressentin, Klaus B.; Mash, Bob (MedPharm Publications, 2019)

Introduction: In 2018 governments reaffirmed their commitment to implementing primary health care (PHC) in the Astana Declaration. South Africa has introduced a number of health reforms to strengthen PHC and enable universal ...

The perceptions of general practitioners on National Health Insurance in Chris Hani district, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Gaqavu, Mthetheleli Mbongeni; Mash, Bob (MedPharm Publications, 2019)

Background: National Health Insurance (NHI) intends to provide universal health coverage to all South Africans, with equity and quality as its tenets. The participation of private general practitioners (GPs) in NHI is ...

Implementing and evaluating an e-portfolio for postgraduate family medicine training in the Western Cape, South Africa

De Swardt, Magdaleen; Jenkins, Louis S.; Von Pressentin, Klaus B.; Mash, Bob (AOSIS, 2019)

Background: In South Africa it is compulsory to submit a satisfactory portfolio of learning to gain entrance to the national exit examination of the College of Family Physicians and to qualify as a family physician. A ...

Institutional tuberculosis infection control in a rural sub-district in South Africa : a quality improvement study

Mekebeb, Martha B.; Von Pressentin, Klaus; Jenkins, Louis S. (AOSIS, 2019)

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health challenge, and South Africa is one of the high-burden countries. A national TB infection control (TBIC) guideline has stipulated three areas of infection control at ...

Family physicians’ experience and understanding of evidence-based practice and guideline implementation in primary care practice, Cape Town, South Africa

Pather, Michael K.; Mash, Robert (AOSIS, 2019)

Background: In primary care, patients present with multimorbidity and a wide spectrum of undifferentiated illnesses, which makes the application of evidence-based practice (EBP) principles more challenging than in other ...

How to improve the quality of care of obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus receiving care at a semirural district hospital in Lesotho

Nkulu, Patrick Mulongo (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12)

ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: Managing diabetes associated with obesity remains challenging in developing countries including Lesotho. General measures need to be improved and encouraged for prevention countrywide. Aim: ...

'Telephone Triage' : a possible means of managing the after-hours patient load at primary health care facilities in South Africa

Adeniji, A. A.; Mabuza, L. H. (MedPharm Publications, 2018)

The rate at which routine patients are using the emergency department (ED) as a path to enter into the healthcare system in South Africa’s community healthcare facilities and district hospitals is alarming. The increasing ...

'Going the extra mile' : supervisors’ perspectives on what makes a 'good' intern

De Villiers, M.; Van Heerden, B.; Van Schalkwyk, S. (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2018-10)

Background: Much has been published on whether newly graduated doctors are ready for practice, seeking to understand how to better prepare graduates for the workplace. Most studies focus on undergraduate education as ...

Antimicrobial stewardship in a rural regional hospital – growing a positive culture

Junaid, E.; Jenkins, L.; Swanepoel, H.; North, Z.; Gould, T. (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2018-07)

Antimicrobial stewardship programmes have been introduced worldwide in response to the rise in antimicrobial resistance. The World Health Organization has mandated each Member State to produce a plan to address this problem. ...

Transforming the workplace environment to prevent non-communicable chronic diseases : participatory action research in a South African power plant

Schouw, Darcelle; Mash, Robert; Kolbe-Alexander, Tracy (Taylor & Francis Open, 2018)

Background: The workplace is an important setting for the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Policies for transformation of the workplace environment for occupational health and safety in South Africa have ...