Background and objectives: “Long COVID” refers to continued symptoms or the emergence of new symptoms 3 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. For many patients with Long COVID, primary care represents the first point of contact with the health care system. This study aimed to explore the expectations and experiences of primary care patients seeking treatment for Long COVID.
Research approach: Researchers conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with primary care patients at the University of Utah’s long-term COVID triage clinic from 2022 to 2023. The interviews focused on understanding and describing participants’ lived experiences and perceptions through open-ended, flexible questions using a phenomenological framework. Interviews were analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis, a method for identifying themes and patterns in data.
Key results:
Nineteen interviews were analyzed. The average age of participants was 54 years, and 53% were women. Most participants had COVID-19 for the first time in 2020 (32%) or 2021 (47%). Patient expectations: Patients expected their primary care physicians to be knowledgeable about post-COVID conditions, attentive to their individual conditions, and engage in a collaborative process for treatment. Patient experiences: Participants perceived interactions with physicians as negative when they felt ignored or discouraged. Patients also described the difficulty of navigating the fragmented US health care system in coordinating care, treatment and testing, and payment.
Why it matters: The findings highlight a disconnect between COVID-19 long-term patients’ expectations and experiences in the U.S. healthcare system. Despite the numerous barriers and frustrations they face, patients express a desire to collaborate with clinicians to improve their outcomes.
sauce:
American Academy of Family Physicians
Journal References:
Gardner, E., et al. (2024). Challenges of receiving long COVID care: A qualitative interview survey of primary care patients’ expectations and experiences. Annals of Family Medicine. doi.org/10.1370/afm.3145.
