Primary care of people with spinal cord injury

Family physicians often lack confidence in providing optimal care for patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) due to the rarity of such cases in their practice. The average family medicine case load would have only 1 or 2 patients at a time with SCI. This study reviews existing research on primary care for adults with SCI, emphasizing comprehensive coverage rather than strict adherence to specific evidence standards. The emphasis of a scoping study is on comprehensive coverage, rather than on a particular standard of evidence. The research involved searching databases for articles on SCI and primary care, then analyzing those articles for themes, levels of evidence, methodological rigor, and sample size. The review process identified 42 items. To further focus the search, articles were read in their entirety by at least 2 of the authors15 and were excluded if they had a sample size of less than 3, were opinion or editorial pieces, or did not permit SCI-specific data to be identified.

• 1
  Most individuals with SCI identify family physicians as their regular doctors, but many also rely on SCI specialists. Approximately 90% of people with SCI identify family physicians as their regular doctors; 63% have SCI specialists.
• 2
  People with long-term SCI develop complex methods for navigating the health care system. People with long-term SCI develop complex rubrics for navigating their personal health care systems.
• 3
  Regular follow-up by specialized teams and annual comprehensive health examination are supported by the evidence. Regular follow-up by specialized teams and annual comprehensive health examination are supported by the evidence.