Managing the Rehabilitation Wave: Rehabilitation Services for COVID-19 Survivors.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is having a profound effect on the provision of medical care. As the curve progresses and patients are discharged, the rehabilitation wave brings a high number of postacute COVID-19 patients suffering from physical, mental, and cognitive impairments threatening their return to normal life. The complexity and severity of disease in patients recovering from severe COVID-19 infection require an approach that is implemented as early in the recovery phase as possible, in a concerted and systematic way. To address the rehabilitation wave, we describe a spectrum of interventions that start in the intensive care unit and continue through all the appropriate levels of care. This approach requires organized rehabilitation teams including physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, rehabilitation psychologists or neuropsychologists, and physiatrists collaborating with acute medical teams. Here, we also discuss administrative factors that influence the provision of care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The services that can be provided are described in detail to allow the reader to understand what services may be appropriate locally. We have been learning and adapting real time during this crisis and hope that sharing our experience facilitates the work of others as the pandemic evolves. It is our goal to help reduce the potentially long-lasting challenges faced by COVID-19 survivors.

Implementing an Opioid Risk Reduction Program in the Acute Comprehensive Inpatient Rehabilitation Setting.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the implementation and evaluation of an interdisciplinary quality improvement (QI) project to increase prescription of take-home naloxone (THN) to reduce risks associated with opioids for patients admitted to an acute inpatient rehabilitation unit. DESIGN: Prospective cohort quality improvement project. SETTING: Eighteen-bed acute comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation (ACIR) unit at a large academic institution. PARTICIPANTS: Patients admitted to ACIR between December 2015-November 2016 (N=788). INTERVENTIONS: An interdisciplinary QI model comprised of planning, education, implementation, and maintenance was used to implement a THN and opioid risk-reduction program involving provider and patient education. Analyses consisted of comparisons between baseline, early, and late phases of the project. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) The proportion of eligible patients who received a prescription for naloxone upon discharge from ACIR; (2) the proportion of patients originally admitted to ACIR on opioids that were weaned off upon discharge. RESULTS: The adjusted odds of eligible patients being discharged from ACIR with a naloxone prescription during the late QI period were 7 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3-21) times higher than during the early QI period (late QI period: 43%, 95% CI: 25%-63%; early QI period: 10%, 95% CI: 3%-28%; P<.001). For patients admitted on opioids, the adjusted odds of being weaned off opioids during the late QI period were 10 (95% CI: 4-25) times higher than during baseline (late QI period: 29%, 95% CI: 17%-45%; baseline: 4%, 95% CI: 1%-10%; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a THN and opioid risk reduction QI project in an inpatient rehabilitation setting led to significantly more eligible patients receiving naloxone and more patients weaned off schedule II opioids.