Table 4.

Lessons learned from experiences of primary care experts across the globe.

Lesson Learned	Recommendation
1. Pandemics illuminate weaknesses in healthcare systems for both patients (minority populations, lower socio-economic status individuals, people living in rural areas, etc.) AND the healthcare workforce (lack of resources, lack of or overburdened personnel, financial pressures, etc.).	Primary health care should take steps to reduce these disparities now before the next pandemic – this includes governmental support through proper funding, workforce development, and securing patient access to care.
2. Pandemics apply unique uncertainty, stress, and anxiety which can contribute to or increase feelings of burnout, moral injury, or post-traumatic stress syndrome for primary care clinicians and staff.	Increased focus on mental health care services for healthcare workers starting at the beginning of the pandemic and continuing past its conclusion as needed is essential to maintain a healthy primary care workforce.
3. Primary care clinicians have a generalist scope of practice and therefore can be utilized more effectively than other specialists to fit specific community needs for pandemic plans and response.	Primary care clinicians should be incorporated as an integral part of pandemic planning from the beginning. Considerations on utilizing PCCs should adhere to ethical considerations of decision-making, including autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.
4. Deciding which patients deserve care (COVID-19 positive patients) versus those who do not (routine, continuity of care patients) places an ethical dilemma onto policy-makers, often leaving clinicians out of the decision-making process, with little room to shift care based on particular patient circumstances.	Public health guidelines should incorporate primary care perspectives on care delivery during a pandemic, including allowing clinicians flexibility to meet patient needs following the ethical guiding principles of decision-making (listed above).
5. Digital health was a benefit to patients and clinicians, provided both parties were able to access it and clinicians were able to be compensated for using it.	Digital health should remain a staple of facilitating primary care services. Expanding access is necessary for marginalized populations, and governments/payors should appropriately financially reimburse for services utilizing these technologies.