Managing ‘sick days’ in patients with chronic conditions: An exploration of patient and healthcare provider experiences

Abstract

Introduction: People with chronic medical conditions often take medications that improve long-term outcomes but which can be harmful during acute illness.Guidelines recommend that healthcare providers offer instructions to temporarily stop these medications when patients are sick (i.e., sick days). We describe the experiences of patients managing sick days and of healthcare providers providing sick day guidance to their patients. Methods:We undertook a qualitative descriptive study. We purposively sampled patients and healthcare providers from across Canada. Adult patients were eligible if they took at least two medications for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and/or kidney disease. Healthcare providers were eligible if they were practising in a community setting with at least 1 year of experience. Data were collected using virtual focus groups and individual phone interviews conducted in English. Team members analyzed transcripts using conventional content analysis. Results:We interviewed 48 participants (20 patients and 28 healthcare providers).Most patients were between 50 and 64 years of age and identified their health