The Effectiveness of Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapy in the Treatment of Patients with COVID-19

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: 1. To identify the clinical presentation and treatment considerations for patients with COVID-19. 2. To identify interdisciplinary rehabilitation assessment tools that could be used to evaluate patients recovering from COVID-19. 3. To quantify the effectiveness of physical, occupational, and speech therapy in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 in inpatient rehabilitation. DESIGN: This is an observational pretest-posttest study of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between the dates of April 28, 2020 and July 1, 2020. SETTING: This was a study of patients with COVID-19 admitted to a regional acute inpatient rehabilitation center in Takoma Park, Maryland - Adventist HealthCare Rehabilitation. PARTICIPANTS: This study involved a convenience sample of patients aged 18+ with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis admitted to a regional inpatient rehabilitation center. The total number of study participants was n=35 with n=18-n=22 of various discipline-specific subdivisions of the research based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. INTERVENTIONS: An average of 3 hours of therapy per day with a minimum of two out of three disciplines between physical, occupational, and speech therapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Results from the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Patient Assessment Instrument (IRF PAI), Six Minute Walk Test (6MWT), Modified Barthel Index - Shah Version (mBI), Orientation Log, and Cognitive Log were collected and analyzed utilizing a paired t-test. RESULTS: Statistically significant improvements [p < 0.05] in IRF PAI (p=2.02 × 10^-14), 6MWT (p=2.29 × 10^-9), mBI (p=5.95 × 10^-9), Orientation Log (p=1.81 × 10^-2), and Cognitive Log (p=9.21 × 10^-4) scores. CONCLUSIONS: Statistically significant improvements in each discipline-specific outcome measure demonstrates that physical, occupational, and speech therapy improve the mobility, self-care, and cognitive performance of individuals recovering from COVID-19 at the inpatient rehabilitation level of care. AUTHOR(S) DISCLOSURES: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.