An investigation into General Practitioners’ experience with Long Covid, 2024, Farrell et al.

An investigation into General Practitioners’ experience with Long Covid
Farrell, Aisling; O’Flynn, James; Jennings, Aisling

BACKGROUND
Long Covid (LC) is the continuation or development of new symptoms after initial COVID-19 infection. Little is known about General Practitioners’ (GP) experience of managing patients with LC.

AIMS
The aim of this study is to establish GP experiences with LC.

METHODS
A survey was designed and piloted in three training practices prior to distribution. The survey was completed by doctors working in GP training scheme practices in Cork, Ireland.

RESULTS
Fifty-three of one hundred and sixty invited GPs completed the survey, indicating a 33% response rate. 8% (4/53) of participants agreed and 0% (0/53) strongly agreed with the statement they were “confident in diagnosing Long Covid”. 81% (43/53) were not confident in treating patients with LC. 70% (37/53) were unaware of indications for referral to secondary care. 38% (20/53) were aware of the referral pathways to local LC clinics. 93% (49/53) agreed there were educational deficits regarding LC.

CONCLUSIONS
There was a lack of confidence in the diagnosis and management of LC, and in the interface with secondary care. There is demand for educational interventions to assist GPs with their care of patients with this emerging condition.

Link | PDF (Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -)) [Open Access]

 

Sounds as if they were very well educated - all the right answers! Maybe the 19% who thought they knew of treatments need a quiet word...

 

What I'm wondering here is who isn't doing their job. Obviously there are processes in place for this. Why is it stalled? Just denial? Dysfunction?

Obviously there is so much to learn yet but the idea of just waiting around pretending like it doesn't exist is not ethical and unjustifiable. Especially when you look at how utterly useless most LC clinics are. I'd expect better from a group of random teenagers.

This atrocious performance is so far beneath what is expected of professionals that it's hard to give it proper context, there's just nothing to compare this to.