Långtidscovid – patienternas upplevelser av bemötande i primärvården

Abstract

Background: Many patients are dissatisfied with the Swedish health care despite its high medical quality. Complaints are frequently related to communication problems. The risk is increased when there are no objective findings that explain the patients’ symptomatology, a situation brought into focus during the current Covid-19 pandemic. Case reports in the media suggest that patients with long-term symptoms and a severely reduced quality of life, so called Long Covid, often feel they are being questioned by the health care workers. Aim: To determine the experiences of a cohort of patients with suspected Long Covid and to identify factors that determined whether the patients had a good or a bad experience in primary care regarding how they were treated by the health care staff. Method: Patients were recruited via an advertisement on the website of the Swedish Covid Association. Data was collected through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, using a self-designed questionnaire and interviews with open-ended questions. Thematic analysis was used to summarize the contents of the interviews. Results: 48 patients were recruited and interviewed. There was a large span regarding how the patients experienced their contact with primary care. A very substantial number of patients (appr 70%) were dissatisfied with the attitude and degree of involvement of doctors, and underlying reported issues were problems with accessibility, competence and continuity. However, neither age, level of education, mode of diagnosis or geographical location were significantly associated with dissatisfaction. Conclusion: The study identifies substantial problems with the current handling of suspected Long Covid in primary care. We hypothesize that creation of dedicated primary care units for Long Covid patients may be a way to rectify these issues.