Subacute brain injury rehabilitation: a program description and a study of staff program evaluation

The concept of continuity of care is introduced and briefly discussed. Three aspects of subacute rehabilitation of patients with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are discussed: the need for differentiated treatment programs, for team integration and emphasis on environmental or milieu factors to accomplish treatment success. The so called Wing Team Model at the TBI Unit at Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital is described. In our program the patients are divided in three groups: the North Wing Program, for slow to recover patients, the East Wing program for patients with severe sequelae after TBI and the South Wing Program for ambulatory patients mainly with cognitive sequelae. A questionnaire study of how staff members evaluate certain aspects of the program is presented. The study indicates that the staff members have in general a positive attitude towards the treatment model, but they wish an improved team coordination of the individual programs.