European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Aug 2020
ReviewCOVID-19 pandemic. What should Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine specialists do? A clinician's perspective.
COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly spreading all over the world, creating the risk for a healthcare collapse. While acute care and intensive care units are the main pillars of the early response to the disease, rehabilitative medicine should play an important part in allowing COVID-19 survivors to reduce disability and optimize the function of acute hospital setting. The aim of this study was to share the experience and the international perspective of different rehabilitation centers, treating COVID-19 survivors. ⋯ We analyze all these consequences and propose some practical treatment options, based on current evidence and clinical experience, as well as several suggestions for management of rehabilitation services and patients with suspected or confirmed infection by SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 survivors have some specific rehabilitation needs. Experience from other centers may help colleagues in organizing their services and providing better care to their patients.
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Aug 2020
Systematic rapid living review on rehabilitation needs due to COVID-19: update to May 31st, 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 the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to present the results of a systematic search performed on papers published from May 1st to May 31st, 2020. ⋯ Nowadays, all patients with disability, regardless of COVID-19 infection, are suffering because of restrictions imposed to rehabilitation service delivery. Neurological involvement is often present during acute and postacute stage, conveying the risk of a long-lasting disability. Accordingly, careful neurological monitoring should be granted. Although new therapies are under development, the main gap in the available scientific literature is the lack of high-quality primary studies, so experimental studies on the effects of rehabilitation are still warranted.
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Jun 2020
Up to 2.2 million people experiencing disability suffer collateral damage each day of COVID-19 lockdown in Europe.
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a great impact on health services. Patients not receiving care due to closure of outpatient services suffer a collateral damage. Our aim was to provide first data on impact of COVID-19 on people experiencing disability in Europe. ⋯ COVID-19 emergency is having a huge impact on rehabilitation of people experiencing disability. This may lead to future cumulative effects due to reduced functional outcome and consequent increased burden of care. When the emergency will fade, rehabilitation demand will probably grow due to an expected return wave of these not well treated patients, but probably also of post-COVID-19 patients' needs.
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Jun 2020
Rehabilitation and respiratory management in the acute and early post-acute phase. "Instant paper from the field" on rehabilitation answers to the COVID-19 emergency.
COVID-19 is a respiratory infectious disease that can cause respiratory, physical and psychological long-term dysfunctions in patients. First recommendations on respiratory management were published, but they were not based on the specific needs due to COVID-19. In this paper we share the early experiences from the clinical field in Northern Italy, where the epidemic started in February. ⋯ Some specific problems are described, including severe muscle weakness and fatigue, joint stiffness, dysphagia, (neuro)psychological problems, impaired functioning concerning mobility, activities of daily life and work. A lot is yet unknown and patients can experience long-term consequences as we know from the literature on the postintensive care syndrome, but COVID-19 has unique features to be investigated and understood. As a colleague stated during the Covinar: this is a marathon, not a sprint….
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Eur J Phys Rehabil Med · Jun 2020
First impact of COVID-19 on services and their preparation. "Instant paper from the field" on rehabilitation answers to the COVID-19 emergency.
This paper reports the immediate impact of the epidemic on rehabilitation services in Italy, the first country in Europe hit by COVID-19. In a country with almost 5000 Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine physicians, the webinar had 230 live viewers (4.5%), and more than 8900 individual visualizations of the recorded version. The overall inadequate preparation of the rehabilitation system to face a sudden epidemic was clear, and similar to that of the acute services. ⋯ Rehabilitation professionals needed support, but also acted properly, again similarly to what happened in the acute wards. The typical needs of rehabilitation, such as human and physical contacts, but also social interactions including patient, team, family and caregivers, appeared clearly in the current unavoidable need of being suppressed. These notes could serve the preparation of other services worldwide.