A new normal for family doctors

Abstract

We have now entered the second year of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and life is slowly returning to normal, or to the oft quoted ‘new normal’. Pandemic fatigue and a host of related health and social issues - including economic and psychological problems - are pushing society back towards some semblance of pre-pandemic normality. There is no doubt that family doctors are going through a similar transition, yearning for a return to a life where a simple cough and sore throat do not trigger a chain of stress and anguish every time a patient steps into our clinics. Having said that, there is no doubt that this pandemic has made us acutely aware how our workplace infection control and occupational health policies require a serious overhaul. There is also no doubt that ‘standard infection’ control practices during the years are obsolete at best, and family doctors have been taking their risk exposures for granted. In our waiting rooms, we get teenagers with meningitis mingling with elderly people with arthritis, and children with slapped cheek syndrome sitting beside pregnant women. The new normal for family doctors would do well to include risk assessment for practices and clinics and the adoption of infection control measures. [excerpt]