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Chaze M, Mériade L, Rochette C, Bailly M, Bingula R, Blavignac C, Duclos M, Evrard B, Fournier AC, Pelissier L, Thivel D. Relying on the French territorial offer of thermal spa therapies to build a care pathway for long COVID-19 patients. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0302392. [PMID: 38640090 PMCID: PMC11029631 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Work on long COVID-19 has mainly focused on clinical care in hospitals. Thermal spa therapies represent a therapeutic offer outside of health care institutions that are nationally or even internationally attractive. Unlike local care (hospital care, general medicine, para-medical care), their integration in the care pathways of long COVID-19 patients seems little studied. The aim of this article is to determine what place french thermal spa therapies can take in the care pathway of long COVID-19 patients. METHODS Based on the case of France, we carry out a geographic mapping analysis of the potential care pathways for long COVID-19 patients by cross-referencing, over the period 2020-2022, the available official data on COVID-19 contamination, hospitalisations in intensive care units and the national offer of spa treatments. This first analysis allows us, by using the method for evaluating the attractiveness of an area defined by David Huff, to evaluate the accessibility of each French department to thermal spas. RESULTS Using dynamic geographical mapping, this study describes two essential criteria for the integration of the thermal spa therapies offer in the care pathways of long COVID-19 patients (attractiveness of spa areas and accessibility to thermal spas) and three fundamental elements for the success of these pathways (continuity of the care pathways; clinical collaborations; adaptation of the financing modalities to each patient). Using a spatial attractiveness method, we make this type of geographical analysis more dynamic by showing the extent to which a thermal spa is accessible to long COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSION Based on the example of the French spa offer, this study makes it possible to place the care pathways of long COVID-19 patients in a wider area (at least national), rather than limiting them to clinical and local management in a hospital setting. The identification and operationalization of two geographical criteria for integrating a type of treatment such as a spa cure into a care pathway contributes to a finer conceptualization of the construction of healthcare pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milhan Chaze
- University of Clermont Auvergne, “Santé et Territoires” Resarch Chair, CleRMa, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Laurent Mériade
- University of Clermont Auvergne, “Santé et Territoires” Resarch Chair, CleRMa, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Corinne Rochette
- University of Clermont Auvergne, “Santé et Territoires” Resarch Chair, CleRMa, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Mélina Bailly
- University of Clermont Auvergne, CRNH, AME2P, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Rea Bingula
- CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Service d’Immunologie, CHU Gabriel-Montpied, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- University of Clermont Auvergne, INRA, UMR 1019, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Christelle Blavignac
- Centre Imagerie Cellulaire Santé, University of Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Martine Duclos
- University of Clermont Auvergne, INRA, UMR 1019, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Service de Médecine du Sport et des Explorations Fonctionnelles, CHU de Clermont-Ferrand, Université Clermont Auvergne, INRA, UNH, Unité de Nutrition Humaine, CRNH Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Bertrand Evrard
- CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Service d’Immunologie, CHU Gabriel-Montpied, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- University of Clermont Auvergne, INRA, UMR 1019, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | | - Lena Pelissier
- University of Clermont Auvergne, CRNH, AME2P, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - David Thivel
- University of Clermont Auvergne, CRNH, AME2P, Clermont-Ferrand, France
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