Full-time integrated treatment program, a new system for stroke rehabilitation in Japan: comparison with conventional rehabilitation.

Objective: To validate the effectiveness of the Full-time Integrated Treatment (FIT) program that is characterized by rehabilitation 7 days/wk, encouragement of daytime activity, and enhanced communication between staff in stroke rehabilitation.

Design: Since our facility changed from the conventional rehabilitation system of 5 days of treatment to the FIT program in December 2000, we compared the conventional rehabilitation program with the FIT program at our hospital. The conventional treatment group and the FIT group consisted of 48 and 58 first-stroke hemiplegics, respectively.