Implementing an innovative rehabilitation programme in an acute care hospital

There have been various proponents of the advantages of early intensive rehabilitation programmes for improved patient outcome. This suggests that rehabilitation should commence whilst patients are in standard wards of acute care hospitals, rather than the usual practice of waiting until they are transferred to a rehabilitation unit or rehabilitation hospital. For effective implementation of such programmes it is important to consider the organization of personnel required and the implications for efficient delivery of services. This paper reports the experiences of implementing such a programme.