Mauritius calling: medical care and neurorehabilitation needs in an oceanic idyll.

The tropical island of Mauritius, located off the coast of Southern Africa, has greatly improved its health care system, especially for frontline services and procedures such as cardiac surgery. But the post-acute neurorehabilitation care is still problematic, much to the detriment of disabled patients, their families, and Mauritian society overall. Comparisons with neurorehabilitation care in the United Kingdom suggest the scale of the problem in terms of uncoordinated medical teams, limited follow-ups, lack of expertise, and cultural stigma.

Functional and clinical outcomes of telemedicine in patients with spinal cord injury.

Objective: To compare the 6-month outcomes of telerehabilitation intervention with those of standard care for spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Home, nursing, or unspecialized hospital care provided after discharge from a spinal cord unit.

Using telemedicine to provide post-discharge support for patients with spinal cord injuries.

We are conducting a randomized controlled trial of telemedicine with patients with spinal cord injuries in their own homes. Internet videoconferencing is used at a bandwidth of 128 kbit/s. Data collection began in March 2004.