The Effect of Patient-Physician Concordance on Perinatal Care: The Family Physicians' Perspective.

Demographic concordance between patients and clinicians has been associated with better outcomes. The current perinatal care workforce is not adequately diverse to allow for patient-clinician concordance. In this mixed-methods study, we aimed to understand family physicians' perception of the impact of patient-clinician concordance on perinatal care.

Retaining the perinatal care workforce: Lessons learned from experienced physicians who no longer attend deliveries.

Objective: To inform policy supporting the retention of family physicians (FPs) in the perinatal care workforce by identifying physician characteristics that are associated with retention.

Data Sources And Study Setting: We surveyed FPs who had been in practice for at least 11 years and reported attending deliveries as part of their practice.

Study Design: We compared the characteristics of FPs who continue to provide perinatal care to those who have ceased and explored their reasons for no longer attending deliveries.

The Workforce Providing Prenatal and Postpartum Care Decreases When Family Physicians Stop Attending Deliveries.

The impact of the declining proportion of family physicians who attend deliveries on the provision of other perinatal care during pregnancy, postpartum, and neonatal periods is unclear. We found a strong association between stopping attending deliveries and stopping providing prenatal and postpartum care among family physicians, suggesting that policies which support family physicians to maintain a full scope of practice including all or some aspects of perinatal care may help alleviate shortages in the perinatal workforce and fill gaps in access to obstetric care.

Providing Obstetric Care: Suggestions From Experienced Family Physicians.

Background And Objectives: The number of family physicians who include obstetric care in their scope of practice is declining, resulting in lower access for patients to obstetric care, especially in rural and underserved communities. In our study, we aimed to understand the experiences of mid- to late-career family physicians and capture suggestions regarding how to maintain obstetric deliveries as part of practice throughout their careers.

Methods: We administered a 30-item online survey to mid- to late-career family physicians regarding their obstetrical care practice and their suggestions for family physicians to continue attending deliveries throughout the course of their career.

Family Physician Racial Identity: An Analysis of "Other" Race Selection and Implications for Future Data Collection.

Family physicians who report their race as "Other" in a single best option question find the existing categories and forced choice of one category to be problematic. Our analysis of open-text responses in the "Other" race category supports a modification in the way these data are collected to provide more accurate and meaningful ways to understand the workforce and move toward more diverse, equitable, and inclusive policies in family medicine.

Family Physician Income Disparities by Race and Gender.

A race and gender salary gap has been well-documented throughout the U.S. economy, but little described in primary care.

Impact of COVID-19 on perinatal care: Perceptions of family physicians in the United States.

Background: Patient-centered care is the best practice in the care of pregnant and postpartum patients. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted changes in perinatal care policies, which were often reactive, resulting in unintended consequences, many of which made the delivery of patient-centered care more difficult. This study aimed to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perinatal health care delivery from the perspective of family physicians in the United States.

Underrepresented Minority Family Physicians More Likely to Care for Vulnerable Populations.

Using data from 2016 to 2020, we found that family physicians who identify as underrepresented minorities in medicine were more likely to have a larger percentage of vulnerable patients in their panels. Increasing access to care for vulnerable patient populations will require a combination of advocating for policies to diversify the physician pipeline and those that encourage all primary care physicians to care for vulnerable patients.

Racial/Ethnic Group Trajectory Differences in Exam Performance Among US Family Medicine Residents.

Background And Objectives: Racial/ethnic score disparities on standardized tests are well documented. Such differences on the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) certification examination have not been previously reported. If such differences exist, it could be due to differences in knowledge at the beginning of residency or due to variations in the rate of knowledge acquisition during residency.

Multinational primary health care experiences from the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative analysis.

Objective: To learn from primary health care experts' experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic across countries.

Methods: We applied qualitative thematic analysis to open-text responses from a multinational rapid response survey of primary health care experts assessing response to the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results: Respondents' comments focused on three main areas of primary health care response directly influenced by the pandemic: 1) impact on the primary care workforce, including task-shifting responsibilities outside clinician specialty and changes in scope of work, financial strains on practices, and the daily uncertainties and stress of a constantly evolving situation; 2) impact on patient care delivery, both essential care for COVID-19 cases and the non-essential care that was neglected or postponed; 3) and the shift to using new technologies.

Racial and Ethnic Diversity of Family Physicians Delivering Maternity Care.

Background: Maternal and birth outcomes represent some of the most profound racial and ethnic disparities in health in the USA, and are, in part, attributed to a lack of diversity in the maternity care workforce. Family physicians are an often-overlooked part of the maternity care workforce, yet frequently provide care to underserved populations. This study aims to characterize the family physician workforce providing obstetric care in terms of race/ethnicity.