Media Article:Federal Government, Clinicians, Employers, and Others Should Adopt New Definition for Long COVID to Aid in Consistent Diagnosis, Documentation, and Treatment SUMMARY: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine propose a new definition for Long COVID as a chronic condition following a SARS-CoV-2 infection, lasting at least three months, and affecting one or more organ systems.
“I think a large drain is that most people with LC have no idea what is wrong with them at first, so this leads to them visiting many healthcare specialists.”
I would add that a large range and number of specialists still don’t have much knowledge about LC, which only exacerbates the costs as patients go from doc to doc. We patients have much more time on our hands to read newsletters like yours than docs in managed care seem to have. The system is broken when doctors don’t have time to keep up on the latest research.
Well, at least (in my experience), these un- and undereducated docs believe us now. I guess that’s a big improvement over 2020-21.
Agree with Amy. The Med professionals are chronically shor of time to keep up with the literature, plus they are driven to diagnose conditions using probability curves that LC completely throws off and skews.
Absolutely. As a doctor, I can tell you that you are SPOT ON. And I can also tell you that most doctors are still completely unable to diagnose or manage LC patients. We need a systematic algorithmic approach they can use to identify LC patients, start initial management, then refer to a specialist, of which we have very few so it’s a total system breakdown.
“I think a large drain is that most people with LC have no idea what is wrong with them at first, so this leads to them visiting many healthcare specialists.”
I would add that a large range and number of specialists still don’t have much knowledge about LC, which only exacerbates the costs as patients go from doc to doc. We patients have much more time on our hands to read newsletters like yours than docs in managed care seem to have. The system is broken when doctors don’t have time to keep up on the latest research.
Well, at least (in my experience), these un- and undereducated docs believe us now. I guess that’s a big improvement over 2020-21.
Agree with Amy. The Med professionals are chronically shor of time to keep up with the literature, plus they are driven to diagnose conditions using probability curves that LC completely throws off and skews.
Absolutely. As a doctor, I can tell you that you are SPOT ON. And I can also tell you that most doctors are still completely unable to diagnose or manage LC patients. We need a systematic algorithmic approach they can use to identify LC patients, start initial management, then refer to a specialist, of which we have very few so it’s a total system breakdown.