Socially assistive robots help stroke, brain injury patients in rehab
Stroke and brain injury patients can benefit from a robot-assisted system developed by the UK’s National Robotarium that assists in rehabilitation.
- The Vanderbilt Rehabilitation Center at Newport Hospital provides comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation services for brain injury survivors.
- The VRC focuses on individualized care plans, helping patients regain lost function and relearn essential skills.
- The rehabilitation process extends beyond inpatient care, with support and resources available to patients transitioning back home.
The month of March was designated as Brain Injury Awareness Month. According to the Brain Injury Association of America “every 9 seconds, someone in the United States sustains a brain injury.” In a moment, an individual’s entire world can change: a car accident, a fall, a sports injury, a lack of oxygen due to a cardiac arrest event or a stroke may result in a brain injury. A brain injury may be classified as a traumatic event, such as a head strike sustained during a fall, or it may be classified as nontraumatic, such as a stroke.
Brain injuries can affect all aspects of the survivor’s life, creating a ripple effect on those family members and friends who are part of their support system. No two brain injuries are the same, and even a “mild” brain injury can have a vast impact on a survivor’s life, affecting how the individual walks, talks, eats, thinks, and feels.
Once a patient has been medically stabilized, it’s time for the brain injury survivor to begin their journey of recovery. Recovery takes time, and may include different chapters of care, often beginning with an inpatient rehabilitation admission.
Newport Hospital houses this specialized inpatient unit at the Vanderbilt Rehabilitation Center (VRC), where patients receive high-quality, around-the-clock nursing and medical care. As part of Newport Hospital, an accredited Magnet-designated facility, the VRC upholds the highest standards of care while providing comprehensive rehabilitation services, including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, and recreational therapy.
Patient care is directed by an expert team of physiatrists, or rehabilitation medical providers. VRC is known throughout the region for its unique programs, excellent outcomes, and patient-focused care. The VRC team has been providing care to those in need for decades, with a history of extremely high patient satisfaction scores. The Vanderbilt Rehabilitation Unit is accredited by The Joint Commission as well as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF).
The inpatient rehabilitation unit has two gyms, a working patient kitchen, a recreational common room, and a mock apartment unit for patients and their families to reside in while preparing for discharge home. The goal of inpatient rehabilitation is to help patients regain lost function so they can return to the community and live as independently as possible.
This could include regaining skills necessary for completing activities of daily living like bathing and dressing; maximizing muscle control and strength; improving balance, mobility, swallowing, eating, and speaking; optimizing communication skills; and minimizing pain and cognitive deficits.
Members of the rehabilitation team will evaluate each patient and create an individualized plan of care in conjunction with the patient. All team members, including the patient and their caregivers, participate in the patient’s care plan throughout the inpatient rehabilitation stay. Family members are included in the skilled therapies as soon as possible, and as frequently as possible, to ensure they are trained in strategies and techniques to support the patient working towards discharge home and returning into the community.
The VRC team has a close working relationship with the Rhode Island Brain Injury Association. Patients are referred to the RIBIA during their admission, to connect them with a neuro resource facilitator who may assist them in transitioning back home and into the community.
A brain injury can have long-lasting physical, cognitive-linguistic, and emotional consequences on the survivor. However, brain injury survivors can go on to lead functional lives with the benefit of intensive and specific rehabilitation, beginning with inpatient rehabilitation. Vanderbilt Rehabilitation Center is here to serve those who have sustained a brain injury both as an inpatient, and after the patient has been discharged home, continuing in their rehabilitation recovery as an outpatient at Newport Hospital.
Christine Kearns MS, CCC-SLP, is a certified brain injury specialist with the Vanderbilt Rehabilitation Center at Newport Hospital. For more information about the inpatient rehabilitation unit at Newport Hospital, visit: brownhealth.org/centers-services/inpatient-rehabilitation
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