Long COVID can present with a combination of over 200 symptoms that last more than 12 weeks after an initial COVID-19 infection. Currently, in Alberta, the top five reported symptoms of long COVID are fatigue, headache, trouble sleeping, dizziness/light-headedness, and difficulty focusing or concentrating. Thankfully, any healthcare practitioner can support patients by providing them with resources as early as possible.
If you have patients who present with long COVID symptoms, these are the key Alberta Health Services resources to support your practice:
- Recovery & Rehabilitation After COVID-19: Information for Health Providers (the main provider page filled with resources and tools to support your patients),
- PCFS (Post COVID Functional Status Scale and Post COVID-19 Symptom Checklist) (to be filled out by any healthcare professional if a patient is suspected to have long COVID), and
- Managing long COVID symptoms poster (to display in your patient care area).
While patients need to wait until they have had symptoms for over 12 weeks to be referred to specialty long COVID clinics, they do not need to wait 12 weeks to receive support. These core resources developed by Alberta Health Services (AHS), should be given to all patients with suspected long COVID as early as possible:
- Getting Healthy After COVID-19: Information for Patients (the main patient page filled with self-management resources, phone lines and support groups)
- After COVID-19: Information and resources to help you recover (a detailed resource with information about how to manage specific symptoms), an
- Together4Health: Long COVID Information & Resources (an AHS forum to ask questions about long COVID and hub to connect with key resources).
