Therese Renaa

• Renaa, Therese & Brekke, Mette (2022). GPs' experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic - a focus group study. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening (Tidsskriftet). ISSN 0029-2001. 142(12), p. 1–7. doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.22.0069. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  BACKGROUND The working day of Norwegian GPs was turned on its head during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the extreme, ongoing pressure the GP service was under. We conducted a qualitative study of the GPs' perceptions of the challenges they faced and of how they coped during the pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHOD Focus group interviews were conducted with 19 GPs from four medical practices in the county of Innlandet. The interviews were analysed using the systematic text condensation method. RESULTS The GPs described how they have coped with the extremely challenging demands on them. They expressed an expectation of rapid adaptability, and considered this a fundamental characteristic of the role of the GP. They felt an enormous responsibility for their own patients and that in a time of crisis this responsibility was extended to include the entire population. They saw themselves as an important part of the local authority's public health preparedness, even though they had not reflected on this to any great extent prior to the pandemic. INTERPRETATION The GP service's adaptability during times of crisis depends on the GPs' strong individual and collective sense of responsibility and their ability to cope. The latter is the GP service's great strength, but it also represents a vulnerability due to the camouflaging of the overburdening of the service. This can lead to local authorities failing to take responsibility for their statutory duties.

• Renaa, Therese & Brekke, Mette (2021). Driftsomlegging ved et fastlegekontor under covid-19-pandemien – en fokusgruppestudie. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening (Tidsskriftet). ISSN 0029-2001. 141(2). doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.20.0713. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  BAKGRUNN Utenfor de store byene er legetjenesten i kommunen ofte lokalisert til ett legekontor. Den lokale legetjenesten er sentral i kommunens helseberedskap. Vi ønsket å undersøke hvordan hjelpepersonellet ved legekontoret opplevde omlegging av driften ved legekontoret under covid-19-utbruddet i mars 2020, og hvilke faktorer som underlettet og vanskeliggjorde prosessen. MATERIALE OG METODE Artikkelen bygger på et fokusgruppeintervju som ble gjennomført med åtte sykepleiere og helsesekretærer ved Otta legekontor i juni 2020. Intervjuet ble transkribert og analysert ved systematisk tekstkondensering. RESULTATER Informantene beskrev en kaotisk og krevende situasjon, der de måtte takle egen og pasienters frykt. De opplevde håndteringen av krisen som vanskelig når kommuneledelsen ikke var bevisst legekontorets utfordringer. Manglende retningslinjer fra myndighetene i starten av utbruddet ga større usikkerhet. Gjennom samarbeid og omstillingsevne fant legekontoret frem til nye arbeidsmåter for å ivareta driften. Dette ga stor mestrings- og fellesskapsfølelse og en sterkere bevissthet om egen betydning i krisehåndteringens frontlinje. FORTOLKNING Studien belyser hjelpepersonellets rolle når fastlegekontoret møter en krise. Kompetente medarbeidere med handlingsrom og verktøy til å takle utfordringene førte i løpet av kort tid legekontoret fra kaos til en ny hverdag. Kommunen kunne ha støttet prosessen ved å sørge for nødvendige ressurser og overordnede føringer for oppgaveprioritering.

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• Renaa, Therese; Fossum, Guro Haugen; Høye, Sigurd; Skow, Marius & Emilsson, Louise (2026). Rate of otitis complications with lower antibiotic prescribing to preschool children in general practice. Nordic Congress of General Practice : Abstracts. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Introduction Antibiotic prescribing for otitis decreased in Norway from 2012 to 2019. Diagnosing otitis in young children is challenging, and the consistently high antibiotic prescription rate indicates a low threshold for antibiotic treatment in general practice, likely driven by diagnostic uncertainty and concern for complications. Aim To investigate if the rate of severe complications increases when fewer children with otitis are treated with antibiotics. Methods Registry study based on population data combined from four different health registries: KUHR (The Norwegian control and reimbursement registry), SSB (Norwegian statistics), NPR (The National Patient Registry), and NorPD (the Norwegian prescription registry). Multivariate logistic regressions tested associations of antibiotic treatment for otitis with hospitalization and severe complications, adjusted for demographic factors, underlying illness, health care access and the general practitioners (GP’s) prescription patterns. Severe complications included sinus venous thrombosis, mastoiditis, pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis. Results Preliminary results indicated that of 269,003 otitis episodes, only 300 resulted in a severe complication, 0.1%. Pneumonia and mastoiditis were the most common severe complications. The rate of severe complications changed minimally from 2012 (9/10 000 episodes) to 2019 (11/10 000 episodes), while the antibiotic prescription rate decreased by 21%. Asthma (OR 2.05 CI 1.54 – 2.75) and Down syndrome/craniofacial anomaly (OR 2,63 CI 1.08 – 6.40) gave the highest OR for severe complications among pre-existing conditions. The risk of complications was the same for children treated by low-prescribing GPs as high-prescribing GP’s. Conclusions and clinical implication Severe complications of otitis are rare. There was observed no increase in the rate of complications with lower antibiotic prescription.

• Renaa, Therese; Emilsson, Louise; Skow, Marius; Høye, Sigurd & Fossum, Guro Haugen (2023). Antibiotic prescriptions to preschool children with respiratory tract infections in Norwegian primary health care 2012-2019. Full text in Research Archive
• Renaa, Therese & Brekke, Mette (2022). The experiences of Norwegian general practitioners during the Covid-19 pandemic - a focus group study. Full text in Research Archive
• Renaa, Therese & Brekke, Mette (2022). Restructuring of a GP practice during the Covid-19 pandemic - a focus group study. Full text in Research Archive
• Renaa, Therese (2022). Kommuneoverleger i spagat. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening (Tidsskriftet). ISSN 0029-2001. 142(2). doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.22.0025. Full text in Research Archive

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