Authors (including presenting author) :
Siu DCH (1),Choi GWK (1), Ho BLM (1), Poon DWF (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Occupational Therapy Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, NTEC
Introduction :
The emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 led to 2.74M people being infected and over 12,000 deaths (The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2022). A recent CUHK epidemiological survey suggested 80% of COVID-19 patients suffer from Long COVID for more than six months (Liu et al., 2022). Poor management of the Long COVID symptoms, including fatigue, brain fog, emotional distress, exertional dyspnea and musculoskeletal discomforts, may lead to an increased number of unplanned medical consultations and healthcare burdens. Excessive health stress would lead to serious health problems. Occupational Therapists are dedicated promoting occupational justice, health and welling. A pilot Long COVID clinic under the Department of Medicine & Therapeutics, the Chinse University of Hong Kong was launched in April 2022. A pilot occupational therapy outpatient service for patients with Long COVID was developed, underpinning the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1977) and the electronic health-enhanced chronic care model (eCCM) (Gee et al., 2015), which integrates telecare to enhance access of care and rehabilitation.
Objectives :
1.To evaluate the feasibility of pilot hybrid outpatient services for patients with Long COVID, integrating telecare as an essential domain of the training
2.To study the effectiveness of the program for further development
Methodology :
A new occupational therapy program in treating patients with long COVID was developed. There are six-1.5 hours sessions of self-management program, including psychoeducation on brief pathology of Long COVID, fatigue and dyspnea management, sleep hygiene, emotion and stress management, cognitive and brain health, and fall prevention and nutrition. Patients with Long COVID symptoms referred from PWH Long COVID clinic are invited to join the program since April 2022. Supervised Health Qigong training are arranged by a certified Junior Health Qigong Coach (Health Qigong Association of Hong Kong, China). Home program, including education video and cognitive training, are prescribed via HA Go. Both telecare and traditional face-to-face treatment are available to enhance patients’ accessibility to the training.
Result & Outcome :
Fifty patients attended the program and completed the evaluation. Most of the patients preferred the hybrid face-to-face and asynchronous telecare format. Three patients agreed to join the synchronous telecare format due to work arrangements. After attending the training program, there was a significant improvement in fatigue, cognitive function, health-related quality of life, emotional well-being and functional balance. A carry-over effect was noted in three months post-evaluation. The mean score of overall satisfaction is 9.5 out of 10. Key factors for successful implementation and the next stage of enhancement include spacious training environment, patient’s health literacy, training components and support from caregivers.
