It was an exciting first week for the annual Physiopedia MOOC, which was developed this year as part of the ReLAB program “Understanding Rehabilitation as a Health Strategy”.
The first MOOC course this week focused on giving a broad overview of rehabilitation. We were very fortunate to have Professor Derek Wade, Neurological Rehabilitation Advisor, Visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes University and Editor of the Clinical Rehabilitation Journal, to share his views and thoughts on rehabilitation and the key role it plays in optimizing individuals Provided their function and involvement.
It was really interesting to look back at the history of rehabilitation and to think about the early development of rehabilitation especially in response to the effects of the war with an emphasis on physical rehabilitation. Personally, I found this a timely reminder of the life changing role rehabilitation has played since its early development, which I was reminded of a few weeks ago when I saw the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, given the development of Sir Ludwig's Paralympic Games Guttmann.
Guttman was a firm believer in " purposeful, dynamic body management" and the role exercise could play in the physical and mental rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries. Thus exercise was introduced as a key component in the Stoke Mandeville Hospital program and became an important element in the care of all people. When we consider how Guttman's involvement with physical rehabilitation has completely changed spinal cord injury rehabilitation benefits, especially in terms of outcome and long-term prognosis for people after a spinal cord injury, the changes have been astronomical. The following video gives only a small insight into the effects of Sir Ludwig Gutmann.
Unfortunately, what hasn't changed is the impact of global conflict on rehabilitation needs, but as Associate Professor Sumit Kane points out, it is a rapidly aging population that is associated with an increase in chronic illness, improved trauma / injury and survival associated with non-communicable diseases actually lead to a rapid shift in health needs and thus to an increasing global demand for rehabilitation services that are currently not adequately covered. Sumit highlights the urgent need to expand rehabilitation, particularly at the primary health care level, to ensure that services reach those who need them most in all contexts around the world.
Reflections on the effects of COVID-19 on rehabilitation
And finally, I am reminded of the tremendous impact of the COVID-19 rehabilitation services. First, we have those who have been directly affected by COVID-19, both in relation to those in need of critical care in the hospital setting and now on their way to recovery, and those who did not originally need inpatient care but are facing with the effects of long Covid, which for many led to a dramatic reduction in both function and participation.
But we must not only take into account those who had COVID-19, but also those who were forced into long periods of isolation and restriction in their daily activities, which also strongly influenced their function and participation. So many had only limited or in some cases no access to rehabilitation services in the last 18 months, which has further increased the burden on rehabilitation services worldwide.
This first course in the MOOC certainly gave me a lot of food for thought and reminded me of some of the challenges we are currently facing in providing adequate rehabilitation services to meet the growing demand for our services. I'm just looking at my own service and the increase in waiting lists and the reduced capacity due to service restrictions during COVID-19 and critically consider what I can do to meet the increased demand without currently having additional resources to support them to cover.
With that in mind, I hope that Course 2 of the MOOC on Rehabilitation in Health Systems will help me look at my own service and consider access to rehabilitation services. I hope it has given you some opportunities to reflect on your own work context and current rehab services.
This post was written by Naomi O'Reilly, the MOOC manager at Phyisopedia.
