Primary healthcare services are essential in maintaining a healthy community. Primary care provides access to prevention, early detection and treatment of common health conditions. It also provides free referral services to specialized physicians. A personal physician, known as a primary care physician, is the first contact between a patient and the medical system. This provider coordinates the overall care of the patient. Typical primary care providers include internal medicine, paediatric, and family medicine doctors.

 

In addition to providing care, primary care providers may also provide mental health services to patients. Mental health conditions are often co-occurring with other physical health conditions. Providing mental health services can help alleviate stigma and reduce the burden of disease. Therefore, a primary healthcare workforce must be trained in psychosocial skills. They must be able to conduct interviews, diagnose, and treat patients with mental health disorders. You can learn more about Doctor-Patient Relationship on this link.

 

A strong primary healthcare system will improve population health. However, this is a difficult challenge for low- and middle-income countries. Government primary healthcare expenditure has remained stagnant, contributing to lower health outcomes. To address this challenge, national governments should establish robust frameworks to engage non-governmental initiatives in primary healthcare delivery.

 

Non-governmental primary healthcare initiatives provide affordable and accessible primary healthcare services to underserved communities. However, their scale and financial sustainability are limited. As such, it is important to partner with governments to develop innovative financing mechanisms. These financing strategies can include public private partnerships (PPPs).

 

In addition to improving access, PPPs can improve the quality of care. However, they can have mixed results on efficiency and equity. For example, the DHAN Foundation provides financing through subscription models, which result in greater community ownership of their health systems. Although this model has been effective in providing care to underserved populations, it has had mixed results on quality and utilization.

 

During pandemics, it is important to ensure that primary healthcare services play an integral role in the provision of palliative care. To address this challenge, more research is needed on the role of primary healthcare services during pandemics, such as COVID-19.

 

PPPs have been successful in Sri Lanka, where they have enabled primary healthcare providers to improve access to services. However, there is evidence to suggest that philanthropic seed funding is more effective for marginalized populations. The most important determinant for success is responsiveness of government payments. If this is not achieved, a system will not be sustainable.

 

One effective approach to improve service coverage and cost-efficiency is task shifting. This involves retraining primary healthcare nurses and physicians to carry out different tasks. When coupled with appropriate technology and protocols, this strategy increases service coverage and minimizes the cost of delivery. Additionally, it optimizes the use of scarce human resources. Go here to get the best services from Meridian Primary Care Services.

 

Several PPPs have shown success in delivering primary healthcare in rural and semi-urban areas. However, more work is necessary to assess the role of primary healthcare services during future pandemics. Moreover, training in palliative care is necessary for addressing learning needs of community healthcare staff. Check out this post that has expounded on the topic:https://www.britannica.com/science/family-practice.