Patterns in Wheeled Mobility Skills Training, Equipment Evaluation, and Utilization: Findings from the SCIRehab Project.

Patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) participate in manual and power wheelchair (WC) skills training during inpatient rehabilitation; wheeled mobility evaluations aim to optimize use, fit, and function of equipment following discharge. Occupational and physical therapists documented treatment sessions during inpatient rehabilitation to describe types and quantity of WC skills training and adaptive equipment (AE) provided by neurological level of injury. Most patients participated in WC skills training; variation in type and frequency exists.

Relationship of physical therapy inpatient rehabilitation interventions and patient characteristics to outcomes following spinal cord injury: the SCIRehab project.

Background/objective: Examine associations of type and quantity of physical therapy (PT) interventions delivered during inpatient spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation and patient characteristics with outcomes at the time of discharge and at 1 year post-injury.

Methods: Physical therapists delivering routine care documented details of PT interventions provided. Regression modeling was used to predict outcomes at discharge and 1 year post-injury for a 75% subset; models were validated with the remaining 25%.

Group physical therapy during inpatient rehabilitation for acute spinal cord injury: findings from the SCIRehab Study.

Background: Inpatient rehabilitation for spinal cord injury (SCI) includes the use of both individual and group physical therapy sessions. A greater understanding of group physical therapy use will help in the evaluation of the appropriateness of its use and contribute to the development of standards of practice.

Objective: This report describes the extent to which group physical therapy is being used in inpatient rehabilitation for SCI, identifies group physical therapy interventions being delivered, and examines patterns in the types of activities being used for people with different levels and completeness of injury (ie, injury groups).

The SCIRehab project: treatment time spent in SCI rehabilitation. Physical therapy treatment time during inpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation.

Background/objective: To describe the nature and distribution of activities during physical therapy (PT) delivered in inpatient spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation and discuss predictors (patient and injury characteristics) of the amount of time spent in PT for specific treatment activities.

Methods: Six hundred patients from six inpatient SCI centers were enrolled in the SCIRehab study. Physical therapists documented details, including time spent, of treatment provided during 37 306 PT sessions that occurred during inpatient SCI rehabilitation.

SCIRehab Project series: the physical therapy taxonomy.

Background/objective: Outcomes research is in need of a classification system of physical therapy (PT) interventions for acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation in the United States. The objective of this study was to describe a taxonomy (system to categorize and classify interventions) to examine the effects of PT interventions on rehabilitation outcomes.

Methods: The SCIRehab study uses the rigorous observational practice-based evidence methodology to examine current treatment processes without changing existing practice.