Authors (including presenting author) :
KWAN KK(1), KO WN(1), LAU WLC(1), CHAN YL (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Occupational Therapy, Kowloon Hospital
Introduction :
Since the fifth wave of COVID-19 outbreak, there was a drastic increase in COVID-related admission and service demand since March 2022 and Kowloon Hospital was no exception. The Occupational Therapy (OT) department supported the in-patient rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients according to the service framework suggested by Coordinating Committee of Occupational Therapists (OTCOC).
Objectives :
1) To review the in-patient OT service coverage of COVID-19 patients 2) To evaluate current OT interventions and rehabilitation outcomes of COVID-19 patients
Methodology :
Patients referred to OT in-patient service from 1st March to 30th November 2022 were included in the review. Patient data were gathered from CMS and CDARS with inclusion criteria of ICD9 diagnosis and PCR positive results. The patients' demographics, OT interventions provided and outcome measures were analyzed.
Result & Outcome :
Total of 1252 patients were identified. The OT service coverage was 78%. 69% of the patients were home case and 31% were old age home case. The median number of OT attendance was 10 for home cases while that of OAH cases was 8. Among the home cases, 64% were discharged back to home while 14% were discharged to old age home. For interventions, the most frequent intervention provided was activities of daily living (ADL) assessment and training (Home: 57%, OAH: 67%) while the second and third were cognitive assessment & training (Home: 23%, OAH: 20%) and discharge planning (Home:11%, OAH: 4%) respectively which aligned with the service framework on COVID rehabilitation. There was a significant improvement in MBI, FIM, AMT and MoCA scores for home cases. No significant changes in the outcome measures were found in OAH cases. The overall readmission rate 28 days after discharge was 21.6%. Readmission rate of OAH cases was slightly higher than home cases (Home: 20.9%, OAH 24.8%). With the high demand and service coverage for OT service on COVID-19 rehabilitation, ward-based training and tele-care were enhanced to facilitate early and safe discharge. Significant improvement in functional and cognitive score of home cases showed the effectiveness of in-patient OT input with alignment with the service framework. In view of high readmission rate, post-discharge support in the community with disease-specific rehabilitation program was urged.
