[Respiratory physiotherapy in post-COVID-19: a decision-making algorithm for clinical practice]. / Fisioterapia respiratoria post-COVID-19: algoritmo de decisión terapéutica.

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of COVID-19 has posed a great challenge for the healthcare system which has been later aggravated by the need of managing clinical manifestations and potential sequelae in COVID-19 survivors. In this context, respiratory Physiotherapy emerges as a cornerstone in the interdisciplinary management warranted in this population. Given that the implementation and resources available for the interdisciplinary therapeutic interventions in Spain is scarce, it is essential to perform a comprehensive, exhaustive and personalised assessment. This will allow us to establish more accurate selection criteria in order to optimise the use of existing human and material resources. To this end, we propose here a decision-making algorithm for clinical practice to assess the clinical manifestations in people recovered from COVID-19 based on well-established, validated tests and assessment tools. This algorithm can be used at any clinical practice environment (primary care/community or hospital-based), combined with a patient-centered model and the use of community and e-Health resources and its application to improve the Physiotherapy care of these patients in the COVID-19 era.