Lessons learned about allied health care for people with post-covid

People who go through a COVID-19 infection are at risk for persistent symptoms: post-covid. In recent years, researchers from IQ Health and 10 other knowledge institutes examined the value of dietetics, occupational therapy, physical/exercise therapy and/or speech therapy for patients with post-covid. In this study, the researchers used existing databases, questionnaire surveys and interviews with patients, allied health care professionals and referrers. The researchers found that patients mainly recovered in the first few months. Yet many patients still experienced substantial complaints after a year. And these symptoms carried substantial social costs.

Patients who experienced COVID-19 at home recovered more slowly than those who were hospitalized. Interviews revealed that patients were generally satisfied with the allied health care received. Sincere attention, providing a listening ear, learning to manage limits and building up in small steps were particularly appreciated. The researchers compiled the lessons learned from this study here: https://covidparamedischonderzoek.nl/download/ParaCOV_factsheet.pdf

From IQ Health the following people were involved: Prof. Dr. Philip van der Wees, Dr. Thomas Hoogeboom, Dr. Koen Verburg, Dr. Ron van Heerde and Prof. Dr. Maud Graff.