Physiotherapy treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 at Oslo University Hospital

Background
In Norway, SARS-CoV-2 was first detected on 26.02.20 and Oslo University Hospital (OUH) registered its first patient admitted with this diagnosis on 09.03.20. Physiotherapists, mainly pulmonary physiotherapists, are among the health professionals at OUH who are involved in the treatment of this patient group. The physiotherapists at OUH were among the first in Norway to gain experience in treating these patients in close collaboration with referring physicians at various departments in the hospital. Since March, the physiotherapists at OUH have experience from over 500 inpatient treatments. Physiotherapy plays a key role in non-invasive treatment; breathing control, positioning, mobilization, cough control and weaning from a respirator. There is little documentation on which physiotherapy treatment that can affect the prognosis and length of stay of patients admitted to hospital with covid-19. As with all other pulmonary physiotherapy, it is the patient's lung problems / challenges, and not the diagnosis, that determine the measures. All physiotherapy is documented in an electronic patient chart, including response to treatment. It will therefore be useful to evaluate which treatment were most frequently used, and how the patients responded to the various treatments.

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe physiotherapy treatment and response to treatment for Covid-19 patients admitted to OUH from March 2020. Secondary, we will describe the number and frequency of treatments.

Method
In this study, we will use data from «20-07119 COVID19 OUS», a quality register at OUH which contains clinical data of all patients admitted with Covid-19. The quality register was approved by PVO on 13 March 2020 (reference number 20/08822). In addition, we will collect descriptive data from physiotherapy medical records in electronic medical records (DIPS) on patients who received treatment from a physiotherapist during their stay. All data is stored in Medinsight Covid-19 OUS and in the sensitive zone associated with the quality register «20-07119 Covid OUS».

We consider the study to be important and of great societal value in connection with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and will also request permission to publish deidentified aggregated data.