Authors (including presenting author) :
TSUI TS(1), LAM WT(1), LAU WLC(1), CHAN YL(1), YIP KHC (1), CHAU HY (1), MAN YC (1), LEE CH (2), HO SWS (3)
Affiliation :
(1) Occupational Therapy Department, Kowloon Hospital
(2) Occupational Therapy Department, Wong Tai Sin Hospital
(3) Occupational Therapy Department, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Introduction :
Long term effects of COVID-19 (Long COVID) among recovered patients are the worldwide issues. People continuously experience symptoms after their initial recovery including shortness of breath, fatigue, memory problem and loss of smell or taste etc. Most of the Long COVID symptoms affect their activities of daily living. It is important to address these persistent symptoms and further facilitate their recovery.
Objectives :
a) To study the long term effects on COVID-19 recovered patients under ICDS
b) Outcomes evaluation of case management by OT on COVID-19 recovered patients under ICDS
Methodology :
Patients recovered from COVID-19 under case management by OT in ICDS from 01/3/2022-28/02/2023 will be recruited. Standardized assessments including Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT), Montreal Cognitive Assessment- Hong Kong Version (HK-MoCA), Shortness of Breath Questionnaire (SOBQ), Modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (mMRC), Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy- Fatigue scale (FACIT fatigue) and the World Health Organization- Five Wellbeing Index (WHO-5) will be used to study the long term effects of COVID-19. A self-developed screening tool will be used to explore the impact of long COVID symptoms and their impacts on six functional domains including ADL, IADL, leisure, mood, life roles and cognition. Individualized intervention will be provided according to their concerns such as dyspnea management, fatigue management, stress coping, cognitive training, caregivers training and disease management. Pre & post standardized assessments including modified Barthel Index (MBI) and Functional Independence Measure (FIM), and readmission in first 28 days after discharge from ICDS will be studied as outcomes evaluations.
Result & Outcome :
Total 27 patients recovered from COVID-19 under OT case management in ICDS from March to December 2022 were recruited for study. The top 4 common reported long COVID symptoms were fatigue (52%), dyspnea (37%), decline in cognition (33%) and mood disturbance (26%). The findings were in line with the significant decline in pre-post COVID-19 performance of SOBQ, mMRC and FACIT-fatigue scale . Around 50% of the recruited patients suffered from different level of impact on their 6 functional domains. The screening tool guided OT to develop individualized case management according to their concerns including dyspnea management, energy conservation, stress management and cognitive training. The functional outcomes including MBI and FIM showed significant improvement upon discharge and there was no readmission in the first 28 days after discharged from ICDS.
