Charlotte Cochrane
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Research Mentor(s): Beth Wallace
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Internal Medicine/Rheumatology / Medicine
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Oral10RS
Session: Session 6 – 4:40pm – 5:30 pm
Room: Vandenberg
Authors: Charlotte Cochrane, Yomei Shaw, Beth Wallace, Hallie Chabrier, Nina Nguyen, Vinayak Swaroop, Meriah Moore, Kaleb Michaud
Presenter: 2
Abstract
Patients with rheumatic illnesses are at an increased risk for long COVID symptoms after infection by the virus, but little is known about long COVID. The goal of this study was to determine how rheumatic patients and their physicians made decisions in regards to their treatment in terms of long COVID. Our team collected EMR data from rheumatic patients with long COVID from Michigan Medicine, and created a case report for each patient’s course with the virus. We then qualitatively coded the data using NVivo software to determine patient themes in decision making. For both patients and physicians, uncertainty about patient symptoms and uncertainty about medications proved to be two major themes in decision making, each with subthemes related to rheumatic symptoms and medications as well as COVID symptoms and medications. From this data, it was concluded that patient decision making was influenced by a variety of different factors, including anxieties about COVID and rheumatic symptoms, anxiety about COVID reinfection, uncertainty about interactions between medications, and how DMARDs would affect their health while infected with the virus. Physicians made decisions based on individual patient needs, and were effective in giving advice to patients when being reassuring of their decision yet sympathetic of patient concerns.
Biomedical Sciences, Interdisciplinary
