The SCIRehab project: social work and case management

The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 2011 · DOI: 10.1179/107902611X12971826988291 · Published: January 1, 2011

Spinal Cord Injury Healthcare Social Support

Simple Explanation

Social workers/case managers identify the needs of the patients and families on admission and reassess these needs throughout the rehabilitation process. The ulti- mate goal is to prepare the patient and family for a safe and effective discharge by maximizing knowledge and identifying and addressing physical, economic, and emotional barriers to optimal community dis- charge. SW/CM also facilitates communications between the patient/family and the rehabilitation team.

Study Duration

5 Years

Participants

600 patients with traumatic SCI

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
Patients received a mean total of 10 hours of SW/CM services, with a mean of 72.8 total minutes per week.
2
The majority of the patients received SW/CM time spent on interdisciplinary conferencing on the patient’s behalf (96%), discharge planning and services (89%), financial planning (67%), community/in- house services (66%), supportive counseling (56%), and initial assessment (54%).
3
Total hours per stay and minutes per week varied by level of injury group.

Research Summary

The SCIRehab Project is a multi-center, 5-year investi- gation recording and analyzing the details of the SCI inpatient rehabilitation process for approximately 1400 patients; only patients enrolled in the first year are included in this paper. Patients received a mean total of 10 hours of SW/CM services, with a mean of 72.8 total minutes per week. These descriptive study data may help in resource plan- ning and benchmarking on both the hospital and the individual patient levels, and will be helpful in planning studies on the impact of SW/CM intervention on SCI outcomes.

Practical Implications

Resource Planning

The data may be helpful in resource planning for meeting patient needs, as well as department-level training and hiring needs.

Benchmarking

These descriptive study data may help in resource plan- ning and benchmarking on both the hospital and the individual patient levels

Future Research

It will be important to study the relationship of services received and time spent on various activities during inpatient SCI rehabilitation to various rehabilitation outcomes.

Study Limitations

1
Data are only as complete as the data entered by each social workers/case managers; some intervention time may not have been included.
2
The six SCIRehab sites were selected to participate based on their willingness, geographic diversity, and expertise in treatment of patients with SCI, and offer variation in setting, care delivery patterns, and patient clinical and demographic characteristics.
3
this project does not include any interventions that occurred in less than 5-minute incre- ments

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