Caregiver and nurse hopes for recovery of patients with acquired brain injury.

From the moment an adolescent with acquired brain injury (ABI) is admitted to the hospital, his or her caregiver develops hopes for the recovery and future of the patient; however, rehabilitation nurses have reported that these hopes are not always congruent with the nurse's observations of the adolescent's progression. The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) explore the caregiver's hope for recovery of his or her family member who has experienced an ABI, (2) compare the nurse's hopes for the patient with ABI to those of the caregiver, and (3) identify what caregivers and nurses do to maintain hope for recovery during the rehabilitation process. This qualitative study validated that in some cases there was a disconnect between caregivers' and nurses' hopes for recovery.

The role of the nurse academician in promoting evidence-based practice in a brain injury rehabilitation unit.

There are many rehabilitation teams and rehabilitation consultants. The team presented here involved the unique collaboration of university nursing scholars and clinicians from a local rehabilitation hospital. The melding of these two groups is providing new opportunities for staff nurses, administrators, and faculty members to work together and use nursing research to provide the base of evidence necessary to enhance rehabilitation nursing knowledge in the brain injury setting.

Who's teaching whom? A study of family education in brain injury.

Acquired brain injury affects every aspect of life-cognition, emotional response, physical ability, and behavior. Although the changes affect the person with the brain injury most directly, people who provide care also experience changes. Family members play a critical role in the long-term rehabilitation of a person with a brain injury.