Analysis of draft Australian rehabilitation service standards: comparison with international standards.

Background: Following her review of health systems and structures Dwyer 1 suggested that there is a need to evaluate models of care for individuals with chronic diseases. Rehabilitation services aim to optimise the activity and participation of individuals with restrictions due to both acute and chronic conditions. Assessing and optimising the standard of these services is one method of assuring the quality of service delivered to these individuals.

A nursing perspective on the relationship between nursing and allied health in inpatient rehabilitation.

Purpose: To generate a deeper understanding of contextual factors influencing nursing's contribution to inpatient rehabilitation units in Australia.

Method: Grounded theory informed by the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism. Data were generated by interviews with nurses and observation of their everyday practice.

Psychological treatment for anxiety in people with traumatic brain injury.

Background: Psychological treatments are commonly used in the management of anxiety. Certain types of psychological treatments are well suited to needs of people with traumatic brain injury (TBI). We have systematically reviewed studies examining the effectiveness of these approaches for TBI.

Sequence of recovery during the course of emergence from the minimally conscious state.

Objective: To document and examine recovery profiles of persons during the course of emergence from a minimally conscious state (MCS) after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Design: Case series.

Setting: Participants in an inpatient brain injury rehabilitation program.

The prevalence and characteristics of shoulder pain after traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of shoulder pain in people with traumatic brain injury participating in inpatient rehabilitation and to compare the clinical presentation with that of people with stroke.

Design: A prospective comparative study.

Setting: Six metropolitan rehabilitation units.

Twelve weeks of nightly stretch does not reduce thumb web-space contractures in people with a neurological condition: a randomised controlled trial.

Question: What is the effectiveness of 12 weeks of nightly stretch in reducing thumb web-space contracture in people with neurological conditions?

Design: Assessor-blinded, randomised controlled trial.

Participants: Forty-four (one dropout)community-dwelling patients with a neurological condition (14 stroke, 7 traumatic brain injury, 23 spinal cord injury) who had uni or bilateral thumb web-space contractures (60 thumbs).

Intervention: The experimental thumbs were splinted into a stretched,abducted position each night for 12 weeks.

What do nurses do in response to their predictions of aggression?

Nurses working with people who have an acquired brain injury report a high incidence of verbal assault and physical aggression directed against them. The aim of the current study was to identify the responses nurses make to such predictions of aggression. Twenty-eight nurses from 10 inpatient brain injury rehabilitation units in Australia participated.

Seeking evidence of rehabilitation in nephrology nursing.

Individuals with renal failure experience many varied and complex alterations in their health status. As a consequence, rehabilitation is an important aspect of their care. However, until recently, rehabilitation has not been explicit in the published nephrology nursing literature.

Does 12 weeks of regular standing prevent loss of ankle mobility and bone mineral density in people with recent spinal cord injuries?

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 12-week standing program on ankle mobility and femur bone mineral density in patients with lower limb paralysis following recent spinal cord injury. An assessor-blinded within-subject randomised controlled trial was undertaken. Twenty patients with lower limb paralysis following a recent spinal cord injury were recruited.

What cues do nurses use to predict aggression in people with acquired brain injury?

There is a paucity of research on the frequent and repeated episodes of aggression and violence experienced by nurses when working with people who have an acquired brain injury. The purpose of this study was to bring this issue into focus by identifying the cues nurses use to predict aggression in people with acquired brain injury. Twenty-eight nurses from 10 different inpatient brain injury rehabilitation units in Australia participated in the study.

The minimally conscious state and recovery potential: a follow-up study 2 to 5 years after traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To document recovery in persons who were in the minimally conscious state (MCS) for at least 1 month after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Design: Patient series.

Setting: Participants who had been discharged from an inpatient rehabilitation unit.

What environmental factors irritate people with acquired brain injury?

Purpose: This study aims to determine the environmental factors nurses identify as being irritating to people with acquired brain injury.

Method: This was a qualitative study. An experienced interviewer used the Critical Decision Method to interview 28 nurses working in 10 inpatient brain injury rehabilitation units in Australia on a one to one basis for 1-1.

Assessing support needs for people with traumatic brain injury: the Care and Needs Scale (CANS).

Background: After traumatic brain injury (TBI), many individuals have support needs, but the variety, frequency and intensity of such needs vary widely. Currently available scales do not assess all facets of required supports and the eight-category Care and Needs Scale (CANS) was developed in order to capture the range of support needs. The aim of the present study was to examine the sensitivity and validity of the CANS.

Is there evidence of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health in undergraduate nursing students' patient assessments?

This paper reports on a secondary analysis of undergraduate nursing students' patient assessments while on clinical placement in a rehabilitation setting in search of evidence of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). It describes the evolution of the original World Health Organization's International Classification of Impairment, Disability and Handicap into the ICF. Data was analysed using the ICF categories of function, activity, participation, environmental factors and personal factors.

Measuring psychosocial recovery after brain injury: change versus competency.

Objectives: To determine the psychometric properties of an alternative form of the Sydney Psychosocial Reintegration Scale (SPRS) that focuses on competency of functioning (Form B) as opposed to the original form that examines change from the premorbid level (Form A).

Design: Descriptive correlational study. Ratings were made by 2 treating clinicians on patients at discharge and 1 week later by using Forms A and B of the SPRS.

Reliability of a device designed to measure ankle mobility.

Study Design: Repeated measures design.

Objective: To assess the reliability of a device designed to measure ankle mobility in the clinical setting.

Setting: Spinal Cord Injury Unit, Sydney, Australia.

Randomised trial of the effects of four weeks of daily stretch on extensibility of hamstring muscles in people with spinal cord injuries.

The aim of this assessor-blind randomised controlled trial was to determine the effect of four weeks of 30 minute stretches each weekday on extensibility of the hamstring muscles in people with recent spinal cord injuries. A consecutive sample of 16 spinal cord-injured patients with no or minimal voluntary motor power in the lower limbs and insufficient hamstring muscle extensibility to enable optimal long sitting were recruited. Subjects' legs were randomly allocated to experimental and control conditions.

Quantifying the magnitude of torque physiotherapists apply when stretching the hamstring muscles of people with spinal cord injury.

Objective: To quantify the magnitude of stretch that physiotherapists apply to the hamstring muscles of people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Repeated-measures design.

Setting: SCI unit in Australia.

Co-ordination of patient care in inpatient rehabilitation.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a new patient care co-ordinator position in an inpatient rehabilitation setting.

Design: Pre and post test using a 42-item staff survey.

Setting: One inpatient rehabilitation service in rural New South Wales, Australia.

Impact of pre-injury factors on outcome after severe traumatic brain injury: Does post-traumatic personality change represent an exacerbation of premorbid traits?

Although personality change is a frequent and disabling consequence of severe degrees of traumatic brain injury (TBI), little information is available beyond descriptive statements. The present paper presents a brief overview of the literature on the effects of pre-injury variables on post-trauma psychosocial functioning, and makes specific examination of the effect of premorbid personality structure on the post-trauma personality in people with TBI. A close relative of 28 people undergoing rehabilitation after TBI completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (EPQ-R) and Current Behaviour Scale (CBS) regarding the injured person's personality and character.

A framework for the role of Registered Nurses in the specialty practice of rehabilitation nursing in Australia.

Aim Of The Study: This study sought to explore systematically the role of Registered Nurses working in rehabilitation in Australia.

Background: Rehabilitation has been identified as an important aspect of health care. However, evidence of a comprehensive investigation of the nurses' role in rehabilitation cannot be found.

Predicting duration of posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) from early PTA measurements.

Objectives: To determine a set of variables that would reliably predict duration of posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) in patients with traumatic brain injury and to test the efficacy of the model.

Design: Simultaneous standard multiple regression analyses.

Participants: Two independent samples of patients with traumatic brain injury who were in the early stages of PTA: a test sample (n = 61) and a cross-validation sample (n = 25).

Resolution of disorientation and amnesia during post-traumatic amnesia.

Objectives: Despite the growing number of instruments for the prospective measurement of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) after traumatic brain injury, fundamental issues about the natural history of its resolution and methods of examination remain unresolved. The aims of the present study were to: (1) examine the sequence of resolution of disorientation and amnesia, and (2) determine if the method of measuring the memory component affected the duration of PTA.

Methods: The sample comprised 31 severely injured patients admitted to a brain injury rehabilitation unit who were examined daily until they emerged from PTA.

Neurological level effect on the discharge functional status of spinal cord injured persons after rehabilitation.

Objective: To determine the relation between neurological level and functional status, measured by individual Functional Independence Measure (FIM) item scores, at discharge after rehabilitation in individuals with acute spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: A cohort of spinal cord injured individuals (ASIA Impairment Scale grades A, B, and C) were classified in groups for analysis of variance (ANOVA) according to neurological level at discharge (C1-4, C5, C6, C7-8, T1-6, T7 and below).

Setting: A 20-bed SCI rehabilitation unit.