State-of-the-Art Webinars on COVID-19 Research

Webinar 5

The New Role of Family Physicians in Times of COVID-19

This webinar focusses on several potentially challenging issues for family practice and primary health care (PHC). One of the most used terms in the literature in regards to COVID-19 is that of ‘vulnerability’. The majority of the observational studies have used this term to describe the frequency of co-existing chronic disease including hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Nevertheless, little is known about the factors that may predict the severity of the infection and its consequences, while little interest has been also shown to potentially protective factors that may reduce the severity of COVID-19 infection and contribute to a disease with mild symptoms or a short course.

The role of PHC and family medicine in coordinating and supporting health surveillance activities is also an important priority during this pandemic. This requires better integration between public health and primary health care; a challenging subject in the current landscape. The lack of integration and synergy between social and health care have been identified as one the key priorities for comprehensive health care systems mostly to prevent deaths in nursing homes.

During the quarantine period, the lack of structured and well organized home care services were revealed once again. The need to turn our attention to domiciliary care by developing clinical protocols based on multidisciplinary teams and using available technology that is both suitable and acceptable in primary care settings is of central importance.

To fulfill all above tasks, Family Doctors and Primary Care Practitioners need to be equipped with the appropriate communication skills which address issues such as motivation and compassion. There are today many challenges for Family Medicine and this webinar seeks to make the new role of family medicine during this pandemic clear.

Date & Time: 5 June 2020 3:00pm (CEST) | 9:00am (EDT) | 9:00pm (CST)

Webinar ID: 875-5965-6064

Webinar Secretariat: covid19_webinar@mdpi.com

The following expert researcher will present and speak:

Prof. Dr. Christos Lionis

Christos Lionis, MD, PhD, FRCGP(Hon), FESC is a Professor of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the School of Medicine, University of Crete and Head of the Clinic of Social and Family Medicine (CSFM) at the School of Medicine, University of Crete. Christos is also appointed as a Visiting Professor of General Practice at the School of Medicine and Health, University of Linkoping, Sweden. Christos is the Director of the Master in Public Health, Health Care Services and Primary Health Care. He is involved in the development of Primary Health Care and General Practice in Greece, while his academic unit has a strong involvement in European and international funded research projects. Christos is involved in an editorial and advisory capacity with a number of international journals, while he is also a member of the Executive Boards of various professional organizations. He has published 365 papers in international journals (cited in PubMed). Christos was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) London, 2009. He was also awarded from the World Association of General Practitioners/Family Physicians (WONCA) in 2016 and from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2017. Christos was appointed in 2019 as a Member of the European Commission Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health.

On Friday 5 June 2020, the fifth webinar in the COVID-19 series was organised. The State-of-the-Art Webinars on COVID-19 is a series of webinars presenting different talks on this specific coronavirus.

In this online seminar, Prof. Dr. Christos Lionis, from the School of Medicine, University of Crete, discusses the new role of family physicians that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The webinar was offered via Zoom and required registration in order to attend, however, the full recording can be found below.

In order to stay updated on the next webinars on COVID-19 organised by MDPI, be sure to sign up to our newsletter by clicking on “Subscribe” at the top of the page.

To support health researchers and professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic, MDPI has established the COVID-19 Academic Resources Center. It contains a variety of information related to COVID-19 available from MDPI, including journal articles, special issues, and Preprints, among others.

Special Issues in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Risk Management of COVID-19 and Public Health: Medical, Economic, Finance, Business, Political and Educational Implications
Editors: Michael McAleer, Chia-Lin Chang, Daniel J. Slottje, Teodosio Pérez Amaral
Accepting submissions until 30 April 2021

Old and New Epidemiological Alerts: Prevention and Control of COVID-19, Candida auris, Measels, MDR and Other Infectious Diseases
Editors: Jadwiga Wojkowska-Mach, Maria Luisa Moro, Monika Chlebowicz, Anna Różańska
Accepting submissions until 28 February 2021

COVID-19 Global threat: Information or Panic
Editors: Carlos de las Heras-Pedrosa, Carmen Jambrino-Maldonado, Patricia P. Iglesias-Sánchez, Jose Ignacio Peláez-Sánchez
Accepting submissions until 20 December 2020

SARS-CoV2 and COVID-19 Outbreak: Lessons, Burning Points and Perspectives
Editor: Evelyne Bischof
Accepting submissions until 31 October 2020