Abstract:

Introduction:
The pandemic of corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected the normal functioning of many countries, including Bulgaria.
Many acute and chronic neurological conditions are considered as consequences of COVID-19 and some authors suggested the term Neuro-COVID. In this field many issues are included: ischemic stroke, thrombosis of cerebral veins and sinuses; inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders, as encephalomyelitis, leucoencephalitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome and chronic demyelinating polyneuropathy, relapses of Multiple sclerosis, Parkinsonic syndrome; cognitive impairment, post-intensive care syndrome (PICS); Memory, attention and sleep problems; Brain fog, Inability to concentrate; Post-traumatic stress syndrome, Depression and Anxiety; Sleep problems. In our practice, we detect several cases of neuro-COVID, as: stroke and cerebral thrombosis (with subsequent hemiparesis), Guillain-Barre syndrome, development of rare diseases as motor-neuron disease and cerebellar ataxia.
The care of all these patients includes the process of Neurorehabilitation (NR), as a functional therapy, based on a detailed functional assessment.
Due to specificity of the corona-virus and the social significance of the pandemic, we decided to evaluate students’ interest toward this field. Current article debates some contemporaneous aspects of the education in the field of rehabilitation (e-learning, language of educational module) and the future place of the module in the educational plan of students and trainees of professional fields of Medicine, Public Health and Health Care.

Methodology:
Our goal was to investigate the opinion of potential learners (students and trainees) on the potential introduction of an educational module on the topic “Neurorehabilitation in neuro-COVID”.
Our responders were students in Bachelor’s degree (specialties “Kinesitherapy”, “Nursing”, “Midwifery”, “Medical rehabilitation and ergotherapy”), students in Master’s degree (specialties “Kinesitherapy”, “Medical rehabilitation and balneology”, “Medical cosmetics”); medical doctors - trainees in “Physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM)”; and participants in long-life learning courses (physiotherapists and medical doctors – PRM specialists).

Results:
We present results of our own online anonymous questionnaire for evaluation of the learning needs and possible e-learning training approaches. All students present interest to the e-learning platform, including the topic “NR in Neuro-COVID”. More than 18 % of students prefer e-learning, presented in native language; 90 % of them accept training in English and native language.
About 99% of students consider this training very important for the recovery of patients’ autonomy in everyday life.

Conclusion:
Due to the impact of COVID-pandemic on public health and the potential of new waves, our students are interested on the introduction of an educational module on the topic Neurorehabilitation in neuro-COVID. They prefer e-learning in native language. They want to see patients with these clinical issues and they are interested in presentation of clinical cases. As educators, we consider the significance of this educational topic for the professional competence of students and trainees in the rehabilitation field.

Keywords:

e-learning, student’s opinion, education, neuro-COVID, neurorehabilitation.