Analyzing the Usage of the GIM-COVID-19 Long-Term Sequelae Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise (RACE) Line

Real time access to guidance for physicians has been offered through Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise (RACE) in British Columbia (BC) for the past 12 years. [1][1] In the context of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the service for RACE was expanded to include a Long-COVID RACE line. [1][1] We report here the types and frequencies of questions asked to General Internal Medicine (GIM) experts in Long-COVID, by general practitioners in BC. 149 calls over an 11-month period were tracked by GIM experts, and analysis of the call themes was undertaken. These calls mainly involved consults regarding the post-infection COVID-19 symptoms being experienced by Primary Care Practitioners’ patients. Respiratory symptoms were the leading type of symptoms reported, with shortness of breath, cough, fatigue, and fevers being the most common, respectively. This data will be used to inform future resource utilization and provide insights on the usage of the Long-COVID RACE line. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Ethics committee of UBC Providence Health Care Research waived ethical approval for this work. Under Article 2.5 of the Tri Council Policy Statement, QA/QI activities are not subject to institutional ethical review. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript. [1]: #ref-1