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The future of primary care: innovations, challenges, and opportunities

Guest Editors:
Filipe Prazeres: University of Beira Interior, Portugal
Mohamud A. Verjee: Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar


BMC Primary Care has published this Collection on The future of primary care: innovations, challenges, and opportunities.

As the first point of contact for patients in healthcare systems, it is essential for policymakers and healthcare professionals working in primary care to evolve and adapt in response to changing societal needs, developments in technology and healthcare interventions, and new challenges to public health.  

New Content ItemThis collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being, and SDG 10: Reducing Inequalities.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Filipe Prazeres: University of Beira Interior, Portugal

Filipe Prazeres is a Family Physician and an Invited Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences – University of Beira Interior – Portugal. He is also an integrated doctoral researcher in the Health for All research group, in the Research Line (LT1) - Preventive Medicine & Societal Challenges - Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS). He holds a PhD in Medicine and his research interest is focused on patients who present multiple chronic medical conditions (multimorbidity) in primary care settings.

Mohamud A. Verjee: Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar

Mohamud A. Verjee, BSc (Hons), MBChB, DRCOG, CCFP, FCFP, MBA has been on faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine for sixteen years. He is the inaugural director of the family medicine clerkship, appointed in 2007. His career at Cornell includes being an assistant dean of medical student affairs, director of clinical skills for six years, teaching and funded research, and being an actively practicing family physician. He is an associate editor for BMC Primary Care, and a peer reviewer for multiple medical journals. He has published extensively, and presented nationally and internationally. An alumnus of the Harvard Macy Institute, Boston, United States, he completed his MBA on Leadership and Sustainability in 2016. Narrative medicine in primary care, and professionalism in health care are strong interests.
 

About the Collection

BMC Primary Care has published this Collection on The future of primary care: innovations, challenges, and opportunities.

This Collection explores new trends, outlines the upcoming challenges, and explores the potential of primary care for shaping global health outcomes in the future. As the first point of contact for patients in healthcare systems, it is essential for policymakers and healthcare professionals working in primary care to evolve and adapt in response to changing societal needs, developments in technology and healthcare interventions, and new challenges to public health.  

By publishing this Collection, BMC Primary Care seeks to foster collaboration, dialogue, and knowledge-sharing with researchers, patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals to encourage advances in primary care delivery that will improve global health outcomes and resolve health inequalities. 

In this Collection, we welcomed submissions in a diverse range of primary care research topics that explore new perspectives and resolve challenges that will impact the equitable delivery of primary care in the future, supporting BMC Primary Care’s commitment to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being (SDG3) and SDG 10: Reducing Inequalities.

Suggested topics for this Collection included, but were not limited to:

  • Digital health and telemedicine: investigating the impact of technology on primary care delivery, including accessibility, efficiency, and patient-provider communication 
  • Addressing health disparities: strategies for reducing disparities in accessing primary care services and improving health outcomes in underserved populations
  • Integrated care models: examining the benefits and challenges of integrating primary care with other healthcare services, including mental health services and community-based care
  • Patient-centered care: innovations in fostering patient engagement, shared decision-making, and personalized care approaches
  • Health promotion and disease prevention: exploring novel interventions for promoting healthy lifestyles and preventing chronic diseases through primary care
  • Primary care workforce: addressing challenges in recruiting and engaging healthcare professionals such as workforce shortages, promoting diversity, and ensuring adequate training to meet the evolving demands of primary care
  • Health policy and governance: analyzing policy initiatives that support the sustainability and resilience of primary care systems


Image credit: oatawa / Stock.adobe.com

  1. Self-efficacy is the ability to execute, and it is a critical predictor of health-related outcomes among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV). Self-efficacy directly determines treatment out...

    Authors: Abdisa Gemedi Jara, Faisel Dula Sema, Masho Tigabe Tekele, Asrat Elias Ergena, Eyayaw Ashete Belachew, Amensisa Hailu Tesfaye, Abenezer Melaku Tafese, Banchamlak Teferi Mekonen, Saron Naji Gebremariam, Endalamaw Aschale Mihiretie and Eden Abetu Mehari
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:255
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Teledermatology is the practice of dermatology through communication technologies. The aim of this study is to analyze its implementation in a Spanish health area during its first two years.

    Authors: Elena Sánchez-Martín, Isabel Moreno-Sánchez, Marta Morán-Sánchez, Miguel Pérez-Martín, Manuel Martín-Morales and Luis García-Ortiz
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:227
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Inadequate financing constrains primary healthcare (PHC) capacity in many low- and middle-income countries, particularly in rural areas. This study evaluates an innovative PHC financing reform in rural China t...

    Authors: Zhi Zeng, Yunmei Luo, Wenjuan Tao, Ruiling Zhang, Bo Zeng, Jianhong Yao and Wei Zhang
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:195
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. The landscape of general practice has experienced notable transformations in recent decades, profoundly influencing the working conditions of general practitioners (GPs). This study aimed to examine the most s...

    Authors: Anne Schrimpf, Elisabeth Scheiwe and Markus Bleckwenn
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:171
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Australian government strategies and frameworks have been developed in recent years to encourage the integration and coordination of primary care delivery; including patient-centred approaches to clinical and ...

    Authors: Amie Steel, Hope Foley, Kim Graham, Joanna Harnett and Jon Adams
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:151
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Regular physical activity (PA) results in extensive physical, psychological, and social benefits. Despite primary care being a key point of influence for PA behaviours in the UK, research indicates poor applic...

    Authors: Callum J. Leese, Robert H. Mann, Hussain Al-Zubaidi and Emma J. Cockcroft
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:112
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. The policy attention to primary health care has seen a global upswing in recent years, including in India. Earlier assessments had shown that a very small proportion of Indian population used the government pr...

    Authors: Shriyuta Abhishek, Samir Garg and Vikash Ranjan Keshri
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:91
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI), though a prevalent condition among women, is undertreated in primary care. EHealth with pelvic floor muscle training is an evidence-based alternative to care-as-usual. It is ...

    Authors: Lotte Firet, Theodora Alberta Maria Teunissen, Rudolf Bertijn Kool, Reinier Peter Akkermans, Antoinette Leonarda Maria Lagro-Janssen, Huub van der Vaart and Willem Jan Jozef Assendelft
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:89
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Physical inactivity is associated with feelings of burnout and fatigue, which in turn are associated with reduced performance among healthcare practitioners. This study explored movement behaviours of general ...

    Authors: Richard S. Mayne, Gregory J. H. Biddle, Charlotte L Edwardson, Nigel D. Hart, Amanda J. Daley and Neil Heron
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:60
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Primary care is integral to the health system and population health. Primary care research is still in development and most academic departments lack effective research investments. High impact primary care re...

    Authors: Allison Gayapersad, Mary Ann O’Brien, Christopher Meaney, Ishan Aditya, Julia Baxter and Peter Selby
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:52
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly advancing field that is beginning to enter the practice of medicine. Primary care is a cornerstone of medicine and deals with challenges such as physician shortage and...

    Authors: Matthew R. Allen, Sophie Webb, Ammar Mandvi, Marshall Frieden, Ming Tai-Seale and Gene Kallenberg
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:42
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select The future of primary care: innovations, challenges, and opportunities from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.