Building on existing well-established pulmonary rehabilitation services is likely the best approach for supporting patients with COVID-19 after they are discharged from hospital, a UK cross-specialty survey of clinicians has found.
Responses from more than 1,000 consultants, physiotherapists, dieticians and other health care professionals highlighted the “huge interest and urgent need” for a coherent recovery program for people are who discharged from hospital after being infected with the virus.
The results showed overwhelming support for an early post-discharge recovery program that advised patients on symptom management including fatigue, breathlessness and mood disturbances.
And at six to eight weeks post discharge, respondents to the survey were keen to see advice on returning to usual exercise habits and engaging in outdoor activities included in rehabilitation programmes for COVID-19 patients.
Advice on returning to work as well as psychological support, should also be included, the majority of respondents said in a survey supported by the British Thoracic Society.
While services would need to adapt as more evidence was published on the recovery from COVID-19, it was clear that respondents felt this would be an opportunity to adapt and improve current pulmonary rehabilitation models rather than ‘reinvent the wheel’, the researchers reported .
Other issues that came out in the survey responses included the need for a clear referral pathway to rehabilitation programmes and reassurances that financial support would be available for the development of the new model.