Research

(SA19) Mitigating COVID-19-Related Complications to Promote Successful Rehabilitation and Discharge

Saturday, March 11, 2023

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM ET

Room: 120/121

CME: (1.5) MOC: (1.5) CMD Clinical: (1.5) Nursing Contact Hours: (1.5) AAFP: (1.5)

We will present 5 papers related to COVID-19 complications (e.g. dehydration, delirium, symptom development) in nursing home patients. Paper #1 discusses the frequency of COVID-19 symptoms and the co-occurrence of delirium and dehydration in 314 COVID-19 patients. Paper #2 discusses how delirium presents post-vaccination via a 40-patient case series. Paper #3 describes the amount of therapy patients received and associations between delirium/dehydration and rehabilitation tolerance. Paper #4 explains how staff can predict dehydration risk based on patients’ prior functional status, and how to mitigate this risk. Paper #5 discusses the individual- and systems-level barriers the 122 post-acute patients faced during discharge. The discussant will then synthesize the papers and moderate a Q&A.

Learning Objectives:

At the completion of this session, learners will be able to:

Recognize COVID-19-related and post-vaccination delirium in patients with COVID-19 and who have been vaccinated for COVID-19
Understand the potential impact of COVID-19-related delirium and dehydration on the rehabilitation process, and be able to make informed decisions as to the appropriate level of rehabilitation for a COVID-19 patient with these sequelae
Identify which patients who contract COVID-19 are at increased risk for dehydration and delirium and take actions to mitigate this risk
Take concrete steps to overcoming the barriers to coordinating care to expedite safe discharge in post-acute patients with COVID-19 on both individual patient and systemic levels

Session Chair/Speaker(s)

Benjamin E. Canter, BA, OT/s

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Candidate
Boston, Massachusetts

Slides PDF

Speaker(s)

Kenneth Boockvar, MD, MS (he/him/his)

Director of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care
Birmingham, Alabama
Himali Weerahandi, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor
San Francisco, California

Co-Author(s)

WM

Wingyun Mak, PhD

Senior Research Scientist
New York, New York

Speaker(s)

Ruth Spinner, MD (she/her/hers)

Senior Medical Director
New York, New York