Division of General Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Center for the Advancement of Team Science, Analytics, and Systems Thinking in Health Services and Implementation Science Research (CATALYST), College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
J Gen Intern Med. 2024 Jun;39(8):1294-1300. doi: 10.1007/s11606-024-08622-z. Epub 2024 Feb 2.
Little is known about how to best evaluate, diagnose, and treat long COVID, which presents challenges for patients as they seek care.
Understand experiences of patients as they navigate care for long COVID.
Qualitative study involving interviews with patients about topics related to seeking and receiving care for long COVID.
Eligible patients were at least 18 years of age, spoke English, self-identified as functioning well prior to COVID infection, and reported long COVID symptoms continued to impact their lives at 3 months or more after a COVID infection.
Patients were recruited from a post-COVID recovery clinic at an academic medical center from August to September 2022. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis.
Participants (n=21) reported experiences related to elements of care coordination: access to care, evaluation, treatment, and ongoing care concerns. Some patients noted access to care was facilitated by having providers that listened to and validated their symptoms; other patients reported feeling their access to care was hindered by providers who did not believe or understand their symptoms. Patients reported confusion around how to communicate their symptoms when being evaluated for long COVID, and they expressed frustration with receiving test results that were normal or diagnoses that were not directly attributed to long COVID. Patients acknowledged that clinicians are still learning how to treat long COVID, and they voiced appreciation for providers who are willing to try new treatment approaches. Patients expressed ongoing care concerns, including feeling there is nothing more that can be done, and questioned long-term impacts on their aging and life expectancy.
Our findings shed light on challenges faced by patients with long COVID as they seek care. Healthcare systems and providers should consider these challenges when developing strategies to improve care coordination for patients with long COVID.
对于如何最好地评估、诊断和治疗长新冠，人们知之甚少，这给寻求治疗的患者带来了挑战。
了解患者在寻求长新冠治疗过程中的体验。
这是一项涉及对与寻求和接受长新冠治疗相关主题进行访谈的定性研究，参与者为至少 18 岁、会讲英语、自我报告在新冠感染前功能良好、且在新冠感染后 3 个月或更长时间报告长新冠症状持续影响其生活的患者。
参与者从 2022 年 8 月至 9 月在学术医疗中心的新冠后康复诊所招募。访谈进行了录音、转录，并使用主题分析进行分析。
参与者（n=21）报告了与医疗协调相关元素的体验：获得医疗服务、评估、治疗和持续的医疗关注。一些患者表示，通过让倾听并验证其症状的提供者来获得医疗服务是方便的；而其他患者则报告说，由于提供者不相信或不理解他们的症状，他们的医疗服务获得受到阻碍。患者报告说，在评估长新冠时，他们不知道如何沟通自己的症状，他们对接受正常的检查结果或不能直接归因于长新冠的诊断感到沮丧。患者承认临床医生仍在学习如何治疗长新冠，他们赞赏愿意尝试新治疗方法的提供者。患者表达了持续的医疗关注，包括感觉没有更多可以做的，以及对他们的衰老和预期寿命的长期影响提出质疑。
我们的研究结果揭示了长新冠患者在寻求治疗时面临的挑战。医疗保健系统和提供者在制定改善长新冠患者医疗协调的策略时，应考虑这些挑战。
