Disclosures: Jennifer Stone, PT, DPT, OCS, PHC: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To determine the impact of an early outpatient telerehabilitation protocol on patients following hospitalization for COVID-19

Design: Case SeriesSetting : Academic healthcare center, secondary careParticipants : All patients discharged following COVID-19 hospitalization (n=50) at a tertiary academic medical center between April and September of 2020 were contacted to participate; 25 accepted, 19 completed the rehabilitation protocol

Interventions: Patients were seen for 2-4 visits of telehealth physical therapy. Patients were evaluated and placed into predetermined activity tolerance categories with a corresponding treatment program. They were additionally screened for need for mental health, occupational therapy, and speech therapy services.

Main Outcome Measures: Outcome measures assessed were Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) on selected tasks, 30 Second Sit to Stand Test, Daily Fatigue Impact Scale score, Resting Respiratory Rate, overall severity (based on averaging severity levels of previously identified functional scale scores), and patient-rated feelings of dyspnea on exertion.

Results: Statistically significant improvements were found in several post-rehabilitation functional outcomes, compared to pre-rehabilitation measures. The functional outcomes that improved included resting respiratory rate (p < 0.05), 30 Second Sit to Stand score (p < 0.001), Daily Fatigue Impact Scale score (p < 0.05), Borg RPE (p < 0.05), and patient reported overall severity rating (p < 0.01). Patient-rated dyspnea was not significantly different from first to last visit.Conclusions: Two to four visits of telerehabilitation provided after hospital discharge resulted in significant improvements in functional outcome measures. These findings provide further support of outpatient telerehabilitation use following hospitalization for COVID-19. Future studies should assess the impact of post-hospital discharge telerehabilitation in larger cohorts, as well as analyze post-intervention functional outcomes in both patients who do and do not receive rehabilitation services to determine differences.

Level of Evidence: Level IV

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/early-outpatient-telerehabilitation-improves-functional-outcomes-in-patients-following-hospitalization-for-covid-19-a-case-series/