Proprietary Model of Qualification for In-Hospital Rehabilitation after COVID-19

Since the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Poland, 6,128,006 people have been diagnosed, of which 116,798 died. Patients who recovered from COVID-19 and require rehabilitation due to varied impairments should be provided an opportunity to participate in an individualized, complex rehabilitation program starting from acute care and being continued in the post-acute and long-term rehabilitation phase. It is recommended to offer out-patient and in-hospital rehabilitation procedures depending on the type and persistence of symptoms and dysfunctions. The aim of this paper is to present the qualification process of post-COVID19 patients for an in-hospital complex rehabilitation program developed on the basis of pulmonary physical therapy.

The presented qualification program was developed on the basis of clinical experience of over 2000 patients participating in the pilot program of in-hospital rehabilitation launched in September 2020 and based on the Regulation of the Polish Minister of Health of 13 July 2020.

The proposed model of patients' qualification rests on well-known and validated tools for functional assessment: exercise tolerance assessment, dyspnea intensity assessment, functional fitness assessment, assessment of arterial blood saturation, lung ventilation function assessment, assessment of long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms, and patient's basic mental health condition.

The proposed qualification model for the post-COVID rehabilitation program allows us to introduce adequate qualifications followed by much needed assessment of the health effects.