Therapists in the Uniformed Services: Improving Care in Emergency Response Medical Missions

Abstract

People diagnosed with COVID-19 who require hospitalization are primarily admitted secondary to shortness of breath because of hypoxia but also display difficulties with overall muscle weakness, which could impair gait, activities of daily living, speech, cognitive-linguistics, or swallowing. This article provides a clinical perspective of how a physical therapist, occupational therapist, and speech language pathologist in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps were deployed with an augmentation team and how they improved care at a hospital that was overwhelmed with patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The rehabilitation team completed 246 evaluation and treatment encounters in a 12-day period and began seeing patients within 24 hours on-site. After the rehabilitation team arrived, patients were noted to be more mobile, independent in activities of daily living, and able to tolerate the least restrictive diets without signs and symptoms of aspiration. As a result of rehabilitation services, safe discharges were expedited, length of stay was reduced, and the hospitals' inpatient admission capacity was maximized. The augmentation team learned the importance of including rehabilitation specialties for treating patients with COVID-19. Mobilizing rehabilitation specialties along with medical and nursing staff helps maximize the overall recovery, health, and outcomes for patients. Leadership that is responsible for the development and deployment of future medical teams in military, emergency response, and public health efforts should consider all therapy disciplines as an essential component for each team.

Keywords: COVID-19; deployments; disaster response; military medicine; rehabilitation; therapy.

Figure.

Aerial view of the El Centro Regional Medical Center and the annex that was added to separate patients who received a negative test result for COVID-19 who were treated in the annex from patients who received a positive test result for COVID-19 who were treated in the hospital. The US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps augmentation team, which arrived in December 2020 and departed January 2021, treated patients in both the annex and the medical center. Photo used with permission from El Centro Regional Medical Center.