Management Challenges in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Telehealth and Virtual Reality

Abstract

For the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), early diagnosis and unconditionally correct management at the initial stage of the disease are very important when the symptoms are not yet too worrying. In this way, the progress of the disease can be slowed down, as can the occurrence of late, life-threatening symptoms. Pulmonary rehabilitation is an essential component of the management of COPD. The selection of appropriate exercises, which are determined during the classification of patients into a suitable improvement program, is of key importance in the process of rehabilitation. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in major limitations to public health care. Health systems were largely unprepared for an outbreak of this magnitude. Searching for new, attractive technologies that help patients with chronic diseases seems to be justified. This may be driven by telehealth platforms, likewise with the use of virtual reality (VR). Analysis of the available literature indicates promising effectiveness, high patient acceptance, and high motivations to undertake physical activity with the use of such a solution. Thus, the management of patients with COPD during the COVID-19 pandemic should include options for remote delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation, including home-based, telerehabilitation, and computer-based virtual programs.

The Role of Telemedicine in Extending and Enhancing Medical Management of the Patient with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

“…In the era of required social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all of the center-based pulmonary rehabilitation programs temporarily shut down, and at the time of this paper they have still only re-opened to a limited degree. This has led to the use of telemedicine technology to provide elements of pulmonary rehabilitation to those who need it, yet who—because of their age, disease severity, and frequent co-morbid conditions—would be at risk in the crowded settings of traditional pulmonary rehabilitation [ 63 ]. How this will play out once the pandemic subsides remains to be determined.…”

Virtual Reality Interventions for Needle-Related Procedural Pain, Fear and Anxiety—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…VR has been used to manage the pain and anxiety associated with medical procedures [ 16 ]. The literature identifies four types of VR: immersive virtual reality, non-immersive (desktop) virtual reality, augmented virtual reality and mixed virtual reality (a combination of real objects and environments with virtual people or places) [ 17 ]. The value of the application of immersive VR in clinical settings is that immersive VR environments can enable researchers or clinicians to modify multimodal input stimuli to make patients feel “present” in the projected environment [ 18 , 19 ].…”

Virtual Therapeutic Garden: A Promising Method Supporting the Treatment of Depressive Symptoms in Late-Life: A Randomized Pilot Study

“…Therefore, the results of the present experiment, despite the small size of the study group, are an important addition to existing knowledge. Moreover, the review on the use of virtual reality in psychiatric disorders and rehabilitation [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] carried out by our team has demonstrated that there is a gap of scientific reports related to the possibility of using VR therapy, especially based on total immersion, in older patients with depression.…”