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Background: Many countries are facing a shortage and misallocation of general practitioners (GPs). The development of a policy response may benefit from the knowledge of worldwide policies that have been adopted and recommended to counteract such a development.Aim: To identify measures proposed or taken internationally to prevent GP shortages.Design and Setting: A literature review followed by an expert assessment focussed on sources from OECD countries.Method: The literature search identified international policy documents and literature reviews in bibliographical databases, and examined institutional websites and references of included publications. The internet search engine Google was also used. The resulting measures were then assessed for completeness by three experts.Results: Ten policy documents and 32 literature reviews provided information on 102 distinct measures aimed at preventing GP shortages. The measures attempt to influence GPs at all stages of their careers.Conclusions: This catalogue of measures to prevent GP shortages is significantly more comprehensive than any of the policy documents it is based on. It may serve as a blueprint for effective reforms aimed at preventing GP shortages internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent reforms in Austria have focused on establishing team-based care within multiprofessional primary care units, to enhance amongst others, the work attractiveness of general practice. Nearly 75% of qualified general practitioners are not working as contracted physicians with the social health insurance. This study aims to explore the facilitators of and barriers to non-contracted general practitioners to work in a primary care unit., Methods: We conducted twelve semi-structured, problem-centered interviews among purposively sampled non-contracted general practitioners. To extract categories of facilitators and barriers for working in a primary care unit, transcribed interviews were inductively coded using qualitative content analysis. Subcategories were grouped into factors (facilitators and barriers) of thematic criteria and mapped on the macro-, meso-, micro-, and individual levels., Results: We identified 41 categories, including 21 facilitators and 20 barriers. Most facilitators were located at the micro-level, while most barriers were located at the macro-level. Teamwork and associated conditions made primary care units attractive as workplaces and corresponded with individual demands. In contrast, system factors tended to reduce the attractiveness of working as a general practitioner., Conclusions: Multifaceted efforts are needed to address relevant factors at all of the levels mentioned above. These need to be carried out and consistently communicated by all stakeholders. Efforts to strengthen the holistic approach in primary care, like modern remuneration and patient steering mechanisms, are essential. Financial support, consulting services as well as training on entrepreneurship, management, leadership, and team-based care may help to reduce the risk and burden of founding and running a primary care unit., Competing Interests: Sarah Burgmann is employed at the Austrian National Public Health Institute with focus on the establishment of an Austrian Primary Health Care Platform since July 2020. The study protocol was created before the start of the employment as well and execution of the interviews for this study., (The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).)