Understanding long COVID in general practice - collaboration is the key to enabling data insights

Abstract

Aim: To identify and understand the diagnosis, management and data challenges associated with long COVID in Australian general practice.   Methods: A collaborative action research project was undertaken as part of the second phase of a Digital Health CRC grant titled 'Using near real-time electronic practice data to enhance patient care and best practice policy- phase 2'. Participating partners included Primary Health Networks from South Eastern Melbourne, Eastern Melbourne, South Western Sydney, and Central and Eastern Sydney; Macquarie University; and digital health organisation Outcome Health. Macquarie University ethics approved quantitative and qualitative long COVID research was undertaken between November 2022 and May 2024.   Results: Quantitative research findings provided key insights into the sociodemographic and health characteristics of patients with a GP-led long COVID diagnosis. The research enabled the development of a framework for identifying long COVID patients using general practitioner diagnosis text. Qualitative findings provided a general practice voice on the experiences of diagnosing and managing long COVID.   Conclusions: Collaboration through action research enabled key insights into data and everyday challenges associated with long COVID in general practice. Collaboration was key to ensuring research directions were relevant, and outputs were interpreted within the context of general practice experiences of managing long COVID.