Abstract:
Background: Long COVID provides a new context in which primary healthcare needs to be reexamined, especially because it has health and social dimensions. The experiences of care for patients with long COVID and primary care physicians’ perceptions are an unexplored area.
Aim: To explore the experiences of Slovenian primary care physicians in management and treatment of patients with long COVID.
Design & setting: A qualitative interview study in Slovenian primary care was carried out between November 2021 and April 2022.
Method: Semi-structured interviews were held with physicians that had treated patients with long COVID until saturation was reached. Qualitative content analysis (QCA) was used to analyze the data collected.
Results: Seventeen participants were interviewed. Six categories were defined based on the coding process: the definition and symptoms of long COVID; social exclusion, sick leave, returning to the work environment, cooperation with rehabilitation centers and the importance of trust and good communication with the patient.
Conclusion: The study shows the experiences of Slovenian primary care physicians in the management and treatment of long COVID. The problems related to long COVID were divided into two groups: health problems and psycho-social problems. Slovenian physicians have the greatest problems with dealing with the patient’s ability to work. It was found that adequate communication and trust between physicians and patients are two important indicators for an integrated model of managing long COVID.
Source: Rotar Pavlic D, Maksuti A, Mihevc M, Munda A, Medija K, Strauch V. Long COVID as a never-ending puzzle: the experience of primary care physicians. BJGP Open. 2023 Jul 12:BJGPO.2023.0074. doi: 10.3399/BJGPO.2023.0074. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37437953. https://bjgpopen.org/content/early/2023/07/11/BJGPO.2023.0074 (Full text available as PDF file)