The Toronto Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Network was established in 1995 to address issues of fragmentation in the system and inequitable access to service for individuals with an acquired brain injury. As part of that mandate, the Network established a central referral system, with one point of contact, to increase referral efficiency and ensure that people get to the right service at the right time.

The Network also plays an important role in overseeing issues pertaining to ABI service delivery from a systems perspective.

About this Resource Guide

The need for this resource guide was identified when the Toronto ABI Network hosted a forum on the use of restraints and observers and the impact that their use was having on successfully transitioning patients from acute care to rehabilitation.

Those that participated in the session identified a need for:

• education and sharing of information, rooted in best practices, to guide staff in the application and removal of restraints
• the development of tools and/or processes to better track, manage and report behaviour to expedite the process of removing restraints/observers and therefore improve the transition of the patient from acute care to rehabilitation.
• consensus on how and when to make referrals for ABI rehab.

This resource guide was therefore, developed to share the information that came out of that discussion and to provide a forum for the ongoing sharing of resources.