Physical Therapy in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Forging a Paradigm Shift for Rehabilitation in Acute Care

摘要

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and its rapid transmission around the globe have confronted health care systems with unprecedented challenges and necessitated swift changes in the provision of health care across all settings. As the United States exceeds 1 million confirmed cases, it has become abundantly clear that patients hospitalized with moderate to severe illness will require significant rehabilitation at hospital discharge. This expected surge in rehabilitation needs has sparked national-level conversations around the importance of physical therapy for COVID-19 survivors in home and community-based settings1–3 as well as in postacute care facilities.4 However, these discussions primarily focus on the designation of COVID-19–specific postacute care facilities to offload hospital capacity and delivery of high intensity home-based services to avoid the need for facility-based postacute care and rehospitalization.