COVID-19 and spinal cord injury and disease: results of an international survey as the pandemic progresses.

STUDY DESIGN: An online survey. OBJECTIVES: To follow-up with and re-query the international spinal cord community's response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by revisiting questions posed in a previous survey and investigating new lines of inquiry. SETTING: An international collaboration of authors and participants. METHODS: Two identical surveys (one in English and one in Spanish) were distributed via the internet. Responses from both surveys were pooled and analyzed for demographic and response data. RESULTS: Three hundred and sixty-six respondents were gathered from multiple continents and regions. The majority (63.1%) were rehabilitation physicians and only 12.1% had patients with spinal cord injury/disease (SCI/D) that they knew had COVID-19. Participants reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had caused limited access to clinician and support services and worsening medical complications. Nearly 40% of inpatient clinicians reported that "some or all" of their facilities' beds were being used by medical and surgical patients, rather than by individuals requiring inpatient rehabilitation. Respondents reported a 25.1% increase in use of telemedicine during the pandemic (35% used it before; 60.1% during), though over 60% felt the technology incompletely met their patients' needs. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the ability of individuals with SCI/D to obtain their "usual level of care." Moving forward into a potential "second wave" of COVID-19, patient advocacy and efforts to secure access to thorough and accessible care are essential.

Neuro-rehabilitation service during COVID-19 pandemic: Best practices from UK.

This paper provides the context of COVID-19 outbreak with special reference to hospital-based neurorehabilitation services in the UK and transferrable lessons for similar services globally. While the COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous challenges at all levels and forced us to confront our own vulnerabilities as individuals, teams, services, communities and on the global stage, it has also simultaneously offered us opportunities for transformation. Converting catastrophe into opportunity requires creativity, diligence, innovation, strategy and vision. This reflection serves to identify the challenges we encountered, the solutions we applied and the opportunities that we have taken. In the wake of an information avalanche, service and clinical practice challenge, service capacity challenge and above all, a unique and timely reminder of our own humanity and the inter-connectedness and fragility of human societies, we have endeavoured to identify and describe some crucial leadership facets, which are supporting our journey through this global health crisis.