Reevaluating Rehabilitation Practice for Patients Who Were Critically Ill After COVID-19 Infection: An Administrative Case Report

Abstract

Objective: The goal of this case report is to describe the process, challenges, and opportunities of implementing rehabilitation for individuals who were critically ill and required both mechanical ventilation (MV) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support following a coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection in an academic medical center.

Methods: This administrative case report is set in a heart and vascular intensive care unit, a 35-bed critical care unit that provides services for patients with various complex cardiovascular surgical interventions, including transplantation. Patients were admitted to the heart and vascular intensive care unit with either COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome or pulmonary fibrosis for consideration of bilateral orthotropic lung transplantation. The authors describe the process of establishing rehabilitation criteria for patients who, by previously established guidelines, would be considered too ill to engage in rehabilitation.

Results: The rehabilitation team, in coordination with an interprofessional team of critical care providers including physicians, respiratory care providers, perfusionists, and registered nurses, collaborated to implement a rehabilitation program for patients with critical COVID-19 being considered for bilateral orthotropic lung transplantation. This was accomplished by (1) reviewing previously published guidelines and practices; (2) developing an interdisciplinary framework for the consideration of rehabilitation treatment; and (3) implementing the framework for patients in our heart and vascular intensive care unit.

Conclusion: In response to the growing volume of patients admitted with critical COVID-19, the team initiated and developed an interprofessional framework and successfully provided rehabilitation services to patients who were critically ill. While resource-intensive, the process demonstrates that rehabilitation can be implemented on a case-by-case basis for select patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and MV, who would previously have been considered too critically ill for rehabilitation services.

Impact: Rehabilitating patients with end-stage pulmonary disease on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and MV support is challenging but feasible with appropriate interprofessional collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Keywords: Acute Care; COVID-19; Cardiovascular System; Critical Care; Rehabilitation.