ABSTRACT
Introduction: Severe/critical COVID-19 is characterised by bilateral pneumonia with hypoxemia leading to ARDS, and occasionally to MODS. A combination of different factors, including a prolonged stay in the ICU/acute department, can cause several symptoms such as dyspnoea, fatigue, sarcopenia and disability. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation on selfsufficiency, muscle strength, breathing mechanics and oxygen parameters. Methods: 19 patients (12 women, 7 men) in the post-acute phase of severe/critical COVID-19 pneumonia (10 patients after mechanical ventilation, 9 patients after HFNO) were admitted to inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation. The average age was 66,53 years. We collected clinical characteristics and assessed several measures such as BI, muscle strength (assessed by dynamometry and Janda’s muscle scale), type of breathing and breathing excursion, oxygen parameters (SpO2, breathing frequency) and dyspnoea (using Borg dyspnoea scale) before and after pulmonary rehabilitation. Results: We found a statistically significant improvement in all outcome measures. Conclusion: Our study shows that pulmonary rehabilitation is an effective option in COVID19 patients suffering from permanent impairments. © 2022, LIECREH GUTH. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
In this study, we address the research problem of transitioning from face-to-face to distance teaching in a university setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. We based our study on an analysis of 34 in-depth semistructured interviews with teachers of the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University, in which these teachers reflected on their approaches to online distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. We show that the way the teachers approached the teaching was strongly linked with their conception of teaching and the way they construct the concept of good higher education. According to the analysis of the interviews, we distinguish two polar types of teachers. The first type are functionalists, who focus on passing on knowledge and skills to students. During the pandemic, using judicious pedagogical analysis, they strove to best replace the various components of face-to-face teaching with digital tools and applications. They believe that quality online teaching is challenging, but feasible and potentially bringing new features to higher education. The second type identified were authenticators, who understand teaching as a creation of knowledge and skills in the process of authentic communication between teacher and students. These teachers believe that online tools do not make it possible to adequately replace face-to face classes and perceive the transition to distance learning as a major threat to quality and to the mission of higher education in general. © 2021 Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts. All rights reserved.