Study shows COVID-19 patients in ICU improved functional mobility after PT intervention

Physical therapy Assistant Professor Bobby Belarmino, PT, DPT, PhD, CCS, co-authored a recently published paper outlining a new clinical decision-making algorithm to help clinicians identify COVID-19 patients for whom physical therapy intervention in the ICU is appropriate.

“We realized we cannot use the standard criteria in treating these patients because they are different,” Dr. Belarmino said. For example, COVID-19 patients require higher oxygen levels than typical ICU patients, he said, explaining that researchers were successful in providing PT services to patients despite their increased oxygen needs.

The article, “Physical Therapy Practice for Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 in the Intensive Care Unit,” published in the April 2022 issue of the Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy Journal and was selected as a featured article by Wolters Kluwer. Dr. Belarmino is the paper’s senior author and statistician.

“It is now an accepted standard of practice that patients in the ICU who are medically stable should start being mobilized by nursing and other health care disciplines to prevent the long-term consequences of ICU admissions,” Dr. Belarmino said.

The study describes a novel clinical decision-making algorithm outlining the process for how physical therapists can adopt a better practice in managing patients with COVID-19 in the ICU, especially patients with challenging conditions, he said.

Researchers reviewed the charts of 77 patients who received PT services in the ICU. Twenty-six patients fell outside of previously established parameters for initiating PT intervention, and 44 patients were on mechanical ventilation at the time they received PT services. All patients who received PT services in the ICU improved their functional mobility, according to the authors.