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AGEL Bratislava Hospital started its activity in January this year. How would you evaluate its functioning after almost twelve months?

Our hospital is a new, ambitious project. We have a part of the hospital dedicated to robotic rehabilitation and we want to provide patients from all over Slovakia with something new, modern, which is a trend in the world. This year has been a year of setting up processes, as we started completely from scratch. This has given us the opportunity to take our facility to another level, which is comparable to top foreign workplaces. 

What services does the hospital provide to patients?

The hospital consists of an outpatient section for patients who need outpatient treatment and care. We have an internal medicine and cardiology outpatient clinic, a neurology outpatient clinic and a psychologist. The building includes two floors of an inpatient ward, which is gradually expanding. We are here for patients who have passed a certain stage of the disease and are ready to rehabilitate and improve their mobility. Our goal is to restore their motor function and get the person back to life.

You are the first in Slovakia to bring patients the possibility to use the most modern technologies in rehabilitation. Can you introduce them?

Robots differ from machines in that they have sensors that can perceive the surroundings or the patient's movements and can create feedback on these stimuli. In our facility, we have quite a lot of complexity in robotic rehabilitation in terms of focusing on the upper extremity, lower extremity, verticalization and gait training. This makes us one of the largest and most advanced robotic rehabilitation centers in the country.

What makes this method unique?

Thanks to sensors and feedback, it allows you to perform multiple repetitions, better monitor the guided movement and focus on its quality. The robot helps to eliminate several factors that could limit the patient's exercise. Patients can also manage exercises that would be difficult for them in conventional rehabilitation. The robots also record data and evaluate individual exercises. This allows us to see progress and exercise effectiveness almost instantly.

Can you describe specific results and their effectiveness compared to traditional rehabilitation methods?

When combining robotic and conventional rehabilitation, we can observe faster and more effective progress, especially in patients undergoing early rehabilitation. This is where it is important to start rehabilitation as early as possible. Our patients have two-phase robotic rehabilitation and one exercise unit with therapists. Rehabilitation is very intensive to be as effective as possible. 

However, robotic rehabilitation is not the only way, it needs to be combined with conventional rehabilitation. Our patients also undergo physical therapy, which includes electrotherapy, magnetotherapy, light therapy and other treatments as needed.

What other options do your patients have?

Some patients who are hospitalized with us do not have robotic rehabilitation. For example, these are patients after joint replacement who have a regimen tailored to the healing of the endoprosthesis. For them, conventional physiotherapy is just suitable. We also have virtual reality with goggles and with special software developed for rehabilitation. Patients perform specific tasks that have a rehabilitation intention. Even older generations who have no experience with these technologies respond very well to these exercises.

In robotic rehabilitation, there are a number of devices available to patients. How do you go about designing treatment?

Initially, the patient undergoes an initial rehabilitation examination, during which the physician takes a medical history and creates a rehabilitation plan consisting of a selection of robotic devices, rehabilitation and physical therapy with the goal we want to achieve. The patient then rehabilitates under the supervision of physiotherapists. Thanks to the data collection, we can adjust the therapy and exercises, while the therapy is also individualized according to the patient's rate of progress.

For who, for what type of patients is the above treatment suitable?

For all patients who have musculoskeletal difficulties. Whether they are athletes, people with back pain that needs to be treated with infusion therapy, or even serious conditions after acute neurological diseases and injuries.

What other visions do you have for the hospital in the near future? Do you see a future in robotic rehabilitation?

Definitely yes. I think that rehabilitation is a very dynamic and rapidly developing field also thanks to the high application of technology. Moreover, it gives relevance in a wide range of different diagnoses. That is why we want our facility to be one of the top rehabilitation centres in the country and to become a teaching centre for robotic rehabilitation. We also want to bring the world's innovations so that patients in Slovakia also have the best care in rehabilitation.

The interview was published in Forbes magazine.