Urgent Measures for the Containment of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Epidemic in the Neurorehabilitation/Rehabilitation Departments in the Phase of Maximum Expansion of the Epidemic

Michelangelo Bartolo; Domenico Intiso; Carmelo Lentino; Giorgio Sandrini; Stefano Paolucci; Mauro Zampolini; Board of the Italian Society of Neurological Rehabilitation (SIRN)

doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.00423

Urgent Measures for the Containment of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Epidemic in the Neurorehabilitation/Rehabilitation Departments in the Phase of Maximum Expansion of the Epidemic

Front Neurol. 2020 Apr 30:11:423. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00423. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Michelangelo Bartolo¹, Domenico Intiso², Carmelo Lentino³, Giorgio Sandrini^{4

5}, Stefano Paolucci⁶, Mauro Zampolini⁷; Board of the Italian Society of Neurological Rehabilitation (SIRN)

Collaborators

Board of the Italian Society of Neurological Rehabilitation (SIRN):
E Alfonsi⁸, G Antonucci^{9

10}, A Baricich^{11

12}, G Casu¹³, I Ciancarelli¹⁴, C Cisari^{11

12}, A De Tanti¹⁵, A Estraneo¹⁶, F Ferraro¹⁷, M Gandolfi^{18

19}, M Invernizzi¹¹, G Iolascon²⁰, A Martinuzzi^{21

22}, D Morelli²³, G Morone²³, D Munari¹⁸, S Nordio²⁴, A Picelli^{18

19}, F Scarponi²⁵, V Pingue²⁶, C Solaro²⁷, C Trompetto^{28

29}

Affiliations

¹ Neurorehabilitation Unit, Department of Rehabilitation, HABILITA Zingonia, Bergamo, Italy.
² Unit of Neuro-Rehabilitation, and Rehabilitation Medicine, IRCCS "Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza", San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.
³ Recovery and Functional Reeducation Unit, Rehabilitation Department, Santa Corona Hospital, Savona, Italy.
⁴ Neurorehabilitation Unit, IRCCS C. Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy.
⁵ Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
⁶ IRCCS, Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
⁷ Department of Rehabilitation, USL Umbria 2, Foligno, Italy.
⁸ Clinical Neurophysiology Unit, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy.
⁹ Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185 Rome, Italy.
¹⁰ Neuropsychology Center, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina 306/354, 00142 Rome, Italy.
¹¹ Physical and Rehabilitative Medicine, Department of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Piedmont “A. Avogadro”, Novara, Italy.
¹² Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit, University Hospital “Maggiore della Carità”, Novara, Italy.
¹³ ATS Sardegna, Ospedale San Francesco, Nuoro.
¹⁴ Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, Nova Salus S.r.l., L'Aquila, Italy.
¹⁵ Centro Cardinali Ferrari, Santo Stefano Riabilitazione, Fontanellato, Italy.
¹⁶ Neurology Unit, Santa Maria della Pietà General Hospital, Nola, Italy.
¹⁷ Section of Neuromotor Rehabilitation, Department of Neuroscience, ASST Carlo Poma, Mantova, Italy.
¹⁸ Neurorehabilitation Unit, Department of Neurosciences, University Hospital of Verona, Verona, Italy.
¹⁹ Neuromotor and Cognitive Rehabilitation Research Center, Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine section, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
²⁰ Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Department, Napoli University, Naples, Italy.
²¹ Acquired Neuropsychological Disease Rehabilitation Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Pieve di Soligo, Italy.
²² Severe Developmental Disabilities Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Conegliano, Italy.
²³ IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
²⁴ IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy.
²⁵ Department of Rehabilitation, San Giovanni Battista Hospital, Foligno, Perugia, Italy.
²⁶ Neurorehabilitation and Spinal Unit, Institute of Pavia, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Pavia, Italy.
²⁷ Department of Rehabilitation, Mons L Novarese Hospital, Moncrivello, Italy; Department of Head and Neck, ASL 3 Genovese, Genoa, Italy.
²⁸ Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, Italy.
²⁹ Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy.

Abstract

COVID-19 has rapidly become a pandemic emergency, distressing health systems in each affected country. COVID-19 determines the need for healthcare in a large number of people in an extremely short time and, like a tsunami wave, overruns emergency, infectious diseases, and pneumology departments as well as intensive care units, choking healthcare services. Rehabilitation services are also affected by this epidemic which forces radical changes both in the organization and in the operating methods. In the absence of reference literature on this issue, this report aims to provide a background documentation to support physicians and healthcare personnel involved in neurorehabilitation and rehabilitation care.

Keywords: COVID-19; epidemic; health care; infection; neurorehabilitation; organization; rehabilitation.