biostudies-literatureUnknown85(12)Schrader H<h4>Background and objectives</h4>The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (Mar-Apr 2020) posed significant challenges for primary care. The goal of this study was to analyse the burden of the crisis situation as experienced by the general practitioners (GPs) at its beginning and over the course of the pandemic and to identify factors predictive of the sense of being overburdened.<h4>Methods</h4>In this cross-sectional study, a total of 6300 randomly selected GPs in four federal states of Germany were contacted per post in order to survey changes in health care they provided and their psychological burden in the context of the pandemic between August and October 2020.<h4>Results</h4>The response rate was 23%; 46% of the participants were female. At the beginning of the pandemic, 40% of the Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany))1183-1191https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11248413biostudies-literature[General Practitioners' Experiences with COVID-19: a Survey After the First Wave of the Pandemic in March/April 2020].PMC11248413Sanftenberg LGagyor IJoos SRaus CSchrader HSchmidt JParisi SKaduszkiewicz HBarzel AKuhlein TBorgulya GMaun ALinde Kfalse[General Practitioners' Experiences with COVID-19: a Survey After the First Wave of the Pandemic in March/April 2020].<h4>Background and objectives</h4>The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (Mar-Apr 2020) posed significant challenges for primary care. The goal of this study was to analyse the burden of the crisis situation as experienced by the general practitioners (GPs) at its beginning and over the course of the pandemic and to identify factors predictive of the sense of being overburdened.<h4>Methods</h4>In this cross-sectional study, a total of 6300 randomly selected GPs in four federal states of Germany were contacted per post in order to survey changes in health care they provided and their psychological burden in the context of the pandemic between August and October 2020.<h4>Results</h4>The response rate was 23%; 46% of the participants were female. At the beginning of the pandemic, 40% of the 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Dec2025-04-26T14:12:02.42Z2025-04-06T14:30:46.905ZS-EPMC112484133725336910.1055/a-2042-9715