European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Jun 2020
Systematic rapid "living" review on rehabilitation needs due to COVID-19: update to March 31st, 2020.
The outbreak of COVID-19 epidemics has challenged the provision of health care worldwide, highlighting the main flaws of some national health systems with respect to their capacity to cope with the needs of frail subjects. People experiencing disability due to COVID-19 express specific rehabilitation needs that deserve a systematic evidence-based approach. The aim of this article is to provide the rehabilitation community with updates on the latest scientific literature on rehabilitation needs due to COVID-19. The first rapid "living" review will present the results of a systematic search performed up to March 31st, 2020. ⋯ All selected papers were based on previous literature and not on the current COVID-19 pandemic. Main messages included: 1) early rehabilitation should be granted to inpatients with COVID-19; 2) people with restricted mobility due to quarantine or lockdown should receive exercise programs to reduce the risk of frailty, sarcopenia, cognitive decline and depression; 3) telerehabilitation may represent the first option for people at home. Further updates are warranted in order to characterize the emerging disability in COVID-19 survivors and the adverse effects on the health of chronically disabled people.
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Jun 2020
Systematic rapid living review on rehabilitation needs due to COVID-19: update as of April 30th, 2020.
This paper adds to the series of systematic rapid living reviews, started in April 2020, to provide the rehabilitation community with updates on the latest scientific literature on rehabilitation needs due to COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a systematic scientific literature search performed on papers published from April 1st to April 30th, 2020. ⋯ This systematic rapid living review showed an increasing evidence on rehabilitation needs due to COVID-19 outbreak during April 2020. The main novelties include: 1) the first appearance of epidemiological data on the likely high incidence of neurological complications/disabling sequelae in patients hospitalized for COVID-19; 2) rapid guidelines on the management of chronically disabled patients in the COVID-19 era; 3) advices to provide COVID-19 patients with early respiratory rehabilitation in the acute phase, and with telemonitoring and telerehabilitation in the post-acute phase. Although the overall quality of studies has increased, prospective cohort studies on disability course in COVID-19 pandemic and experimental studies on the effects of rehabilitation are still warranted.
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Jun 2020
Rehabilitation needs of the first cohort of post-acute COVID-19 patients in Hubei, China.
Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infectious disease. Despite being clinically cured, some patients still find it difficult to return to their normal life and work due to the varying degree of dysfunctions that they have, as part of the disease's aftereffect. Through this study, we aim to learn more about the dysfunctions and rehabilitation needs of COVID-19 patients. ⋯ The demand for rehabilitation is high among COVID-19 patients, which requires the quick establishment of a comprehensive and individualized rehabilitation program, to be fulfilled.
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Jun 2020
Telemedicine from research to practice during the pandemic. "Instant paper from the field" on rehabilitation answers to the COVID-19 emergency.
COVID-19 pandemic is creating collateral damage to outpatients, whose rehabilitation services have been disrupted in most of the European countries. Telemedicine has been advocated as a possible solution. This paper reports the contents of the third Italian Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (SIMFER) webinar on "experiences from the field" COVID-19 impact on rehabilitation ("Covinars"). ⋯ Shadows included that telemedicine can integrate but will never substitute face-to-face rehabilitation base on the encounter among human beings; age, and technology barriers (devices absence, bad connection and human diffidence) have also been reported. Possible issues included privacy and informed consent, payments, cultural difficulties in understanding that telemedicine is a real rehabilitation intervention. There was a final agreement that this experience will be incorporated by participants in their future services: technology is ready, but the real challenge is to change PRM physicians' and patients' habits, while better specific regulation is warranted.
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Jun 2020
Living with a disability during the pandemic. "Instant paper from the field" on rehabilitation answers to the COVID-19 emergency.
COVID-19 pandemic is creating collateral damage to persons with disabling conditions of different aetiology. The restrictions imposed to contain the spread of infection is limiting the access to many health services, including rehabilitation. ⋯ Seven representatives of Associations of persons affected by different disabling conditions described the difficulties they are facing during the pandemic, the initiatives undertaken to support their members and their future perspectives and expectations. The users' inputs will be helpful in planning the future phases of the emergency and improve preparedness for other emergencies.