PINCOR

In the Netherlands, more than 8 million people have experienced COVID-19. More than 200,000 people have persistent complaints for more than four weeks. They heavily rely on rehabilitation but it is unknown whether this leads to faster recovery.

The aims of rehabilitation are to increase the quality of life and participation in society and to reduce absenteeism and healthcare costs. In order to achieve this, the patient determines personal treatment goals together with the general practitioner (GP) aimed at better functioning at home and in society.

Depending on the severity of the complaints, the patient is treated by the general practitioner (GP) alone, or, if necessary, supplemented with allied healthcare (eg physiotherapy, occupational therapy or psychology) or specialized rehabilitation care . Experiences of healthcare providers and patients are taken into account in designing the care pathways.

The patient keeps a digital diary to monitor changes in symptoms and functioning during and after treatment. A baseline measurement is performed before the treatment is started. The patient answers questions related to quality of life, physical, cognitive and mental functioning, work and absenteeism. In addition, the extent to which the personal goals in the treatment are actually achieved is measured.

The research is conducted in a collaboration of the Departments of General Practice and Rehabilitation Medicine at Maastricht University, Adelante Zorggroep, and Radboud University Medical Centre. Patient organisations and C-support are involved in the study. The research is funded from ZonMw Long Covid Programme

The study started on August 1, 2022 and will take 18 months.

• On October 10, 2022, ZonMw organized a project leader meeting in which the PINCOR project was also presented. This presentation provides a summary of the project including four work packages.