Review What is the impact of long-term COVID-19 on workers in healthcare settings? A rapid systematic review of current evidence, Cruickshank et at, 2024

Abstract
Background
Long COVID is a devastating, long-term, debilitating illness which disproportionately affects healthcare workers, due to the nature of their work. There is currently limited evidence specific to healthcare workers about the experience of living with Long COVID, or its prevalence, pattern of recovery or impact on healthcare.

Objective
Our objective was to assess the effects of Long COVID among healthcare workers and its impact on health status, working lives, personal circumstances, and use of health service resources.

Methods
We conducted a systematic rapid review according to current methodological standards and reported it in adherence to the PRISMA 2020 and ENTREQ statements.

Results
We searched relevant electronic databases and identified 3770 articles of which two studies providing qualitative evidence and 28 survey studies providing quantitative evidence were eligible. Thematic analysis of the two qualitative studies identified five themes: uncertainty about symptoms, difficulty accessing services, importance of being listened to and supported, patient versus professional identity and suggestions to improve communication and services for people with Long COVID. Common long-term symptoms in the survey studies included fatigue, headache, loss of taste and/or smell, breathlessness, dyspnoea, difficulty concentrating, depression and anxiety.

Conclusion
Healthcare workers struggled with their dual identity (patient/doctor) and felt dismissed or not taken seriously by their doctors. Our findings are in line with those in the literature showing that there are barriers to healthcare professionals accessing healthcare and highlighting the challenges of receiving care due to their professional role. A more representative approach in Long COVID research is needed to reflect the diverse nature of healthcare staff and their occupations. This rapid review was conducted using robust methods with the codicil that the pace of research into Long COVID may mean relevant evidence was not identified.

 

CIDRAP Even healthcare workers face difficulty accessing long-COVID care, review suggests

quote:

HCWs who did return to work said they worried about not being able to function at the required level or make sufficient contributions to their workplace. Many turned to social media for information and support, with some saying they were now better able to empathize with long-COVID patients and those with inconclusive test results.

"A number of us in the group have said how ashamed we are of some of the attitudes we've had towards people, and lack of empathy… This concept of being irritated by patients when they're not really pleased when something comes back normal… Hopefully, it will make me a better and more empathetic doctor at the end," a physician said in one study.

Some study participants reported difficulty accessing and navigating care, as well as delayed, absent, or inappropriate responses and a lack of support from their general practitioners (GPs) in acknowledging and investigating their symptoms. In one study, participant doctors said their professional expertise wasn't recognized or respected, and some resorted to contacting personal or professional contacts to get appointments or referrals to specialists.

 

The challenges being that being a professional makes no difference here, they are treated like the rest of us. It's bizarre how every study about HCPs with LC always emphasize that, and yet it's not even a real difference. It's precisely because once you are a patient you become an unreliable witness to your own life and bodily experience that is the problem, it makes no difference if you are a world-renowned physician or a line cook. The expertise you had doesn't matter one bit.

It's almost painful to think just how superior AIs will be at this stuff. Studies done in isolation, highlighting differences that don't even exist simply because they didn't look elsewhere.

2 qualitative studies. 28 survey studies. That's it. After 4 years. Always emphasizing uncertainty, "mystery", and a blatant lack of careful record-keeping. This is completely pathetic. Even the least effective expert in any other profession would feel badly ashamed of performing this poorly. And yet, hardly anyone cares at all. This profession is so baffling at times, the best and worst of humanity.

 

Link for paper —

What is the impact of long-term COVID-19 on workers in healthcare settings? A rapid systematic review of current evidence (2024, PLOS ONE)