A platform for everything you need to know about post-COVID symptoms

The University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) have put online the first interactive information and exchange platform on the long-term sequelae of SARS-CoV-2. This is a first in the French-speaking world.

Using a digital interface,the Rafael platform enables web users to determine whether or not they are suffering from post-Covid symptoms, and to guide them through the care network. It provides information on complications, known persistent symptoms and their management (investigations, treatment, rehabilitation), as well as the significant impact on quality of life (social, personal and professional) that may result. The aim is to address the public's lack of information about the after-effects of this disease, which still has many unknowns and uncertainties.

The platform takes the form of a website equipped with a chatbot, an interactive window that provides immediate answers to the most frequently asked questions. If the answer is not found, the dedicated team then contacts the user to provide a response.

The first version of Rafael is aimed at adults. In a second phase, the post-Covid symptoms of children and teenagers will also be included. Finally, live chat sessions with HUG specialists will enable the general public to ask questions online.

Recurring questions and ongoing studies will modify and add to the information available on the platform. Continuously updated in this way, it will provide an ever better understanding and information on post-Covid symptoms and their evolution.

Rafael, who gave his name to the platform, is a patient in his forties who suffered from insomnia for several weeks after recovering from the SARS-CoV-2 infection he contracted during the first wave in Geneva. He was one of the first patients to develop persistent symptoms after an acute infection in March 2020.

The Rafael platform, funded by the Fondation privée des HUGis accessible at post-covid.hug.ch.

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