Occupational therapy practice for post-acute COVID-19 inpatients requiring rehabilitation.
Hayley M Scott, Sharon Neale, Elizabeth Harrington and 2 others
PMID 38877567WHAT IT FOUND
Post-acute COVID inpatients improved by 31.09 points on the 18 to 126 functional scale, but care included a whole rehabilitation team, so this does not prove occupational therapy caused the gain.
Patients valued pacing, energy conservation and practice of daily tasks.
Key findings
01The primary functional outcome, FIM, improved by 31.09 points on the 18 to 126 scale across 24 audited patients, including 10 interviewed.
02The 685 recorded occupational therapy occasions were grouped into occupational engagement (378), education provision (190) and discharge planning (117).
03Patients valued pacing, energy conservation, practice of daily occupations, aids and equipment, and support for discharge.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and limited to a single ward, so it may not represent other post-acute COVID patients or services. There was no comparison group, so the functional improvement cannot be credited to occupational therapy alone. Patients received care from a multidisciplinary team, and the contribution of any single discipline cannot be separated. The interviews were brief, handwritten, not audio recorded, and reused from routine quality assurance rather than designed for this study. Follow-up after discharge was not performed, so it is unknown whether improvements persisted. All interviewed patients were discharged home, which may have influenced positive reports.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that occupational therapy alone caused the functional improvement. The patients received multidisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation, and the study had no comparison group.