Abstract:

Introduction:
Recently, we observed the important influence of COVID-pandemic on health systems all around the world. Neurological consequences of COVID-19 were observed during the acute stage and as long-term consequences. The role of rehabilitation for these patients is essential.
The current article debates some contemporaneous aspects of the education in the field of Neurorehabilitation in neuro-COVID and the role of Information and Communication technologies (ICT) in this process. We introduced this topic in the education of different types of students of the professional fields of Medicine, Public Health and Health Care.

Methodology:
Our goal was to prepare and introduce educational materials on neurorehabilitation of neuro-COVID, emphasizing on the potential of modern technologies. We included presentations on important themes in the field: neurological consequences of COVID-19 during the acute stage and in post-COVID; principles of neurorehabilitation (NR) and ICT in these conditions; clinical cases – patients with neuro-COVID and videos on NR. We accentuated on robotic rehabilitation, virtual reality, exoskeleton-NR, Lokomat-NR. We included materials on post-COVID cases with: stroke and hemiparesis, relapse of multiple sclerosis, cerebellar ataxia, Guillain-Barre syndrome.
We prepared PC-based tests for assessment of theoretical and practical skills and evaluated the level of competences of students during graduate and post-graduate education of different specialties: bachelors in “Kinesitherapy” and “Nursing”; bachelors and masters in „Medical Rehabilitation and Ergotherapy“, masters in „Medical Rehabilitation and Balneology“; medical doctors during the specialization in „Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM)“. We also tested the level of satisfaction of students and trainees.

Results:
The qualitative and quantitative analysis of tests’ results demonstrated significant amelioration of competences of students and trainees, applying e-learning and using the complete version (theoretical and practical) of the educational materials. The level of satisfaction of responders was significant.

Discussion:
Authors discuss the place of ICT in the complex NR of different types of patients with neuro-COVID.

Conclusion:
We consider the clinical significance of the introduction of ICT in the process of NR of patients with neuro-COVID and the importance of e-learning for the professional competence of different members of the multi-professional and multi-disciplinary neurorehabilitation team.

Keywords:

e-learning, neuro-COVID, neurorehabilitation, information and communication technologies.