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Recent Committee Activity
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Working group addressing concerns around people sent home to wait for inpatient rehab
Through monitoring our central referral process and wait list, the System Coordination Committee has become increasingly concerned about the number of people being discharged home from acute care to wait for rehabilitation. All too often, these people are refusing inpatient rehab when it is offered and may or may not be getting access to the services they require. We also hear frequently of people who are trying to regain access to the system after struggling for many weeks and months without support.
In response to these concerns, the Network has convened a working group to investigate the scope of the problem and develop targeted solutions to address the issues. As a first step the working group has developed a communication that will be provided to individuals and families when being discharged from acute care to wait for inpatient rehabilitation.
This communication will remind people that they have been referred to inpatient rehab, will give basic information about what to expect, and will provide the Network’s phone number to provide a point of contact to follow-up with the referral. These information cards will be distributed to referrers in acute care and will be posted on our website to be downloaded as needed.
We are also recommending that these letters be used when a patient is being discharged to a community hospital to wait for rehabilitation as we sometimes find that they are discharged home soon after being repatriated and follow-up becomes difficult.
The Network office will continue to monitor wait times, rehab capacity, and the impact of discharging individuals home to wait for rehabilitation.
Education and awareness events planned
The Network has a number of initiatives underway to support increasing awareness about ABI. We have had the opportunity to work with John Kumpf of the Ontario Brain Injury Association, Dr. Nora Cullen and Dr. Vanita Gopal of Toronto Rehab, and Dr. Chanth Seyone of Toronto Western Hospital, to support the development of an education workshop for family physicians that has been accepted at a national family physician conference. The three-hour workshop entitled, “Acquired brain injury: The basics and beyond” will be held at the Family Physician Forum in Toronto on November 29, 2008.
Another workshop for family physicians specifically about the psychiatric and behavioural issues associated with ABI is being considered for the spring of 2009.
In addition, the Network’s Best Practice Committee continues to support the dissemination of best practices related to substance use and brain injury, family intervention for adolescents with brain injury, and other specialized assessment and treatment best practices.
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