Researchers highlight the critical role of Ontario’s primary care providers during the pandemic

Primary care providers have a critical role to play in the pandemic - and improving access to that care is key, say researchers from the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. The researchers released a three-part brief ( part 1 ,  part 2  and  part 3 ) this week detailing the work of primary care providers during the first two years of the pandemic. The brief, which has been widely reported , outlines issues affecting primary care in Ontario and offers lessons learned to improve access to primary care. "The pandemic is not over, and COVID-19 is increasingly an illness that will be managed in the community, supported by family doctors, nurse practitioners and primary care teams," said  Danielle Martin , a clinician and teacher at Women's College Hospital who is chair of the department of family and community medicine in University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine. "The Science Table wanted to understand the evidence base around the contributions of primary care to the pandemic response so far, as well as current strengths and challenges that will affect response to future waves. At this time it is critical to understand the lessons learned from the last two and a half years."  Core authors of the brief, which was concieved by Martin, include experts in primary care from across Ontario with a wide variety of backgrounds, including Imaan Bayoumi, Azza Eissa , Noah Ivers , Tara Kiran , Derelie Mangin, Sarah Newbery, Andrew Pinto  and Kamila Premji. The team analyzed more than 200 articles for the research and consulted other experts broadly in its work.