UCC Nursing & Midwifery Scholarly Impact Report 2022

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CATHERINE MCAULEY SCHOOL OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY, UCC

TRANSLATING EVIDENCE & INNOVATION FOR HEALTH

Telerehabilitation: redefining stroke early supported discharge during the COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic swiftly transformed the delivery of health services across all care settings. There was an increasing need to discharge patients from hospitals due to the high rates of transmission and increasing need for bed capacity. Dr Irene Hartigan worked with Early Supported Discharge (ESD) team to support stroke survivors remotely to continue their rehabilitation. The ESD team provides physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy to stroke survivors referred from two university teaching hospitals in Cork. Telerehabilitation consisted of therapists providing stroke rehabilitation to patients via a video calling platform. Telerehabilitation sessions lasted on average 45 minutes to one hour. A publication from this work is published in the Irish Medical Journal entitled- Tele-rehab: redefining stroke ESD during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team have presented at several conferences and 2 peer reviewed papers related to this work. Stroke survivors receiving telerehabilitation by the Early Supported Discharge team during the pandemic were satisfied with the delivery rehabilitation. Older stroke survivors (those over 70 years) were equally satisfied, suggesting age is not a barrier to telerehabilitation but they may require support to improve ease of use. Lead and Team Members: M Condon 1 , A Barrett 1 , L O’Regan 1 , L Pope 1 , M Goulding 2 , L Healy 3 , R O’Caoimh 4 , I Hartigan 2

Project outputs • Condon, M., Barrett, A., O’Regan, L., Pope, L., Goulding, M., Healy, L., O’Caoimh, R., Hartigan, I. (2022) Tele-Rehabilitation: Redefining Stroke Early Supported Discharge During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Irish Medical Journal, 115 (9) P670. Available at: https://imj.ie/ wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Tele-Rehabilitation-Redefining- Stroke-Early-Supported-Discharge-During-the-COVID-19- Pandemic.pdf • Hartigan, I ., Condon, M., O’Regan, L., Pope, L., Goulding, M., Healy, L., O’Caoimh, R., Barrett, A. (Under review) Adapting stroke rehabilitation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring the experiences of patients and families of an Early Supported Discharge telerehabilitation programme. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. • Goulding, M., Condon, M., O’Regan, L., Pope, L., Healy, L. O’Caoimh, R., Barrett, A. & Hartigan, I. , (2021) Evaluation of telerehabilitation for stroke patients participating on the Early SupportedDischarge rehabilitation program during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed method study. School of Nursing and Midwifery’s 20 th Annual Research Conference Thursday February 4 th , 2021 • Condon, M., Barrett, A., O’Regan, L., Goulding, M., Healy, L., O’Caoimh, R., & Hartigan, I. (2021). “ It’s like thedifferencebetween reading a physical book and reading from a Kindle” Experiences of Early Supported Discharge and telerehabilitation during the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Stroke , 43-43.

Highlights • Early Support Discharge through telerehabilitation is a viable technique to support stroke survivors to engage in rehabilitation at home. • Initial assessments in-person, before transitioning to telerehabilitation, is recommended to help determine patient suitability for telerehabilitation and to establish a rapport between the stroke survivor and therapist.

1 Cork Early Supported Discharge Team (Stroke), Cork University Hospital, Wilton, Cork, Ireland 2 School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland 3 Department of Geriatric and Stroke Medicine, Cork University Hospital, Wilton, Cork, Ireland 4 Department of Geriatric and Stroke Medicine, Mercy University Hospital, Grenville Place, Cork, Ireland