Implementation of rehabilitation medicine consultant recommendations in acute care: a pilot evaluation

Limited data exist regarding rehabilitation medicine consultation services in the acute-care hospital setting. We examined implementation rates of rehabilitation consultant recommendations in a university hospital with either a rotating physician service or a single advanced-practice nurse. We performed a retrospective chart review of all patients evaluated by a rehabilitation consultation service for 2 months at a single 300-bed hospital: The first month with rotating physicians (MP) and the second month with a single advanced-practice nurse (SP). Total consultations/recommendations were similar during the 2 months (MP-63/251, SP-68/240, respectively). The overall implementation rate was greater during the month with the SP (SP-74%, MP-47%), although implementation was similar for discharge disposition (MP-82%, SP-85%). In this university hospital, rehabilitation consultation recommendations were more frequently implemented with a single-provider consultation service. Further study of rehabilitation consultation services is needed, including evaluation of nonphysician consultants.