Burden of COVID-19 on primary care in Belgium: a prospective nationwide observational study from March to August 2020

Abstract Background The COVID-19 outbreak had an important impact on general practice, for example the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the switch to telephone consultations. We installed a monitoring instrument and reported the burden the COVID-19 pandemic placed on Belgian general practitioners (GPs) during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods We conducted an observational longitudinal prospective study from the 19 th of March until the 17 th of August 2020. Daily data were collected by using a structured electronic form integrated into the GPs’ electronic medical records (... Mehr ...