Physiotherapy Management Response for Patients With Lymphedema Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic in the State of Qatar: A Perspective Study

Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread rapidly, forcing changes to health care systems across the globe. COVID-19 outbreak in Qatar has led to the application of preventive measures and cutting of face-to-face outpatient services across Hamad Medical Corporation, the main provider of primary and tertiary health care, aiming to reduce the risk of transmission. The disruption of face-to-face management of patients with cancer and primary lymphedema added to the lack of literature, specifically on its rehabilitation, during such unprecedented crisis and raised the need to quickly modulate our lymphedema outpatient physiotherapy services to ensure the continuity of care. This article describes how our team redesigned its lymphedema management approach through rapid development of online educational treatment resources and implementation of telerehabilitation to patients with lymphedema for the first time in Qatar. Unforeseen challenges were addressed in a 4-phased plan comprising operational, telephonic, virtual, and face-to-face phases, with a descriptive statistical analysis of data and the outpatient activity recorded throughout the phases. Evaluating the efficacy of such program in future research may open up windows for telerehabilitation to become a cornerstone in lymphedema care even after the pandemic.

Automated summary

The rapid spread of novel coronavirus has led to changes in global healthcare systems. In Qatar, the COVID-19 outbreak resulted in the suspension of face-to-face outpatient services at Hamad Medical Corporation, emphasizing the need to quickly adjust lymphedema outpatient physiotherapy services. Through the development of online educational resources and telerehabilitation, the team successfully redesigned their approach to lymphedema management.