Associate Professor of the Department of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Physical Education Completed Internship in Rehabilitation

On February 26 – March 5, 2023, Valentyna Bondarchuk, Associate Professor of the Department of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Physical Education of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, took part in an international professional training in rehabilitation at educational and clinical facilities in Slovakia and Germany.

During this internship in Kosice (Slovakia) on the basis of the University Clinic of Pavel Jozef Šafárik University, V. Bondarchuk had a chance to listen to the report of Professor William Donich, as well as reports of Professor Pavol Terek from the Eastern European Centre for Cardiovascular Diseases, Professor Peter Takacs from Louis Pasteur University Hospital in Košice – Centre for rehabilitation medicine.

After the reports presented by the speakers in the form of a round table discussion, the participants of the professional internship exchanged information regarding the rehabilitation of patients with pathology of the musculoskeletal system and the role of the multidisciplinary team using the example of clinical cases.

During the professional internship at the Hendi Rehabilitation Centre (Pieštany, Slovakia), the medical director Maryan Markech, the main physical therapists of the department for older children and adults Andriy Taraba and Ljuboš Trandzhik familiarized the participants with the work of the Hendi Rehabilitation Centre. Physical therapists were told about the methods of rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy, muscle tone disorders, autism combined with a delay in physical development, musculoskeletal disorders, which are implemented in the Hendi Rehabilitation Centre for neurological and orthopaedic patients. In addition, Yurai Nozdrovytskyi, a specialist in working with the suspension system, familiarized the participants with the operation of the suspension system in this centre, which is also used for the rehabilitation of children in case of musculoskeletal disorders.

During internship at the Kliniken Schmieder clinic (Allensbach, Germany), General Director Paul-Georg Friedrich told the participants about the work of the rehabilitation clinic, which deals with the treatment and rehabilitation of patients with neurological diseases of various degrees of severity both in the acute period and at various stages of rehabilitation.

The Medical Director of the Department of Acute Neurology and Early Neurological Rehabilitation, Professor Anastasios Hatsikosconstantinou, spoke about the early stage of rehabilitation of neurological patients with a phase model of rehabilitation, which defines all aspects of recovery for each phase of treatment, taking into account the severity and duration of the disease (NRP-I Phase A. Acute period, NRP-S Phase B. Early recovery period, NRP-M Phase C. Early rehabilitation and mobilization, followed by a recovery period, NRP-M Phase E. General rehabilitation. Final recovery, NRP-M Day Care Outpatient rehabilitation). Physical therapist Christina Masmann presented the work of a multidisciplinary team (rehabilitation doctor, physical therapist, occupational therapist, psychologist, speech therapist, social worker and other narrow specialists), and indicated that an important place in neurological rehabilitation is given to special types of therapy aimed at restoring motor, cognitive and language functions.

During their stay at the Kliniken Schmieder clinic (Allensbach, Germany), the participants had a chance to see the work of the rehabilitation clinic, where each of them had the opportunity to stay in physical therapy and occupational therapy departments and offices, which are equipped with rehabilitation and occupational therapy equipment.

In the Hendi Rehabilitation Centre (Pieštany, Slovakia), in the Kliniken Schmieder clinic (Allensbach, Germany), the participants of the professional internship took part in the discussion of issues related to the rehabilitation of patients with diseases of the respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, nervous systems, disorders of the musculoskeletal system and locomotor apparatus and children’s rehabilitation.

The professional internship in rehabilitation was filled with heated discussions of interesting professional cases and constructive communication, professional reports with employees of the clinics, which were determined by the internship program. Upon completion of the internship in rehabilitation, the participants received international certificates.

The information was provided by Valentyna Bondarchuk.