Abstract
Purpose: The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2 has imposed a significant burden on health care systems, economies, and social systems in many countries around the world. The provision of rehabilitation services for persons with active COVID-19 infection poses challenges to maintaining a safe environment for patients and treating providers.Materials and Methods: Established frameworks were used to guide the scoping review methodology. Medline, Embase, Pubmed, CINAHL databases from inception to August 1, 2020, and prominent rehabilitation organizations’ websites were searched.Study Selection: We included articles and reports if they were focused on rehabilitation related recommendations for COVID-19 patients, treating providers, or the general population.Data Extraction: Pairs of team members used a pre-tested data abstraction form to extract data from included full-text articles. The strength and the quality of the extracted recommendations were evaluated by two reviewers using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.Results: We retrieved 6,468 citations, of which 2,086 were eligible for review, after duplicates were removed. We excluded 1,980 citations based on title and abstract screening. Of the screened full-text articles, we included all 106 studies. A summary of recommendations is presented. We assessed the overall evidence to be strong and of fair quality.Conclusion: The rehabilitation setting, and processes, logistics, and patient and healthcare provider precaution recommendations identified aim to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection and ensure adequate and safe rehabilitation services, whether face-to-face or through teleservices. The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly changing. Further updates will be needed over time in order to incorporate emerging best evidence into rehabilitation guidelines.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020 (WHO, 2021)
The rehabilitation setting, and processes, logistics, and patient and healthcare provider precaution recommendations identified aim to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection and ensure adequate and safe rehabilitation services, whether face-to-face or through teleservices
Further updates will be needed over time in order to incorporate emerging best evidence into rehabilitation guidelines
Summary
The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020 (WHO, 2021). As of May 27, 2021, 169,615,273 cumulative cases and 3,524,490 deaths (Ritchie et al, 2020) were reported globally. The United States, with a population of 331.4 million people, continued to have the highest burden of COVID-19 on this date, with 33,999,680 cases and 607,726 deaths (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). The second-most populous country in the world with 1.4 billion people, had 27,547,705 cases and 318,821 deaths (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has created a significant burden on healthcare systems, economies, and social systems around the world (WHO, 2021). Many countries implemented significant public health requirements that changed the daily practices of their citizens
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call