The Role of Rehabilitation in Medicine
by Zihni Yilmaz, M.D.
Medical Director
Southwest Regional Rehabilitation Center
Rehabilitation is playing a more powerful role in medicine than ever before.
In rehabilitation medicine, we treat a wide variety of patients, but regardless of their condition, our objective is to find a way to try and get people back to the lives they once lived.
Rehabilitation patients tend to fall into four major categories:
- Those who have suffered strokes.
Usually they are elderly, but sometimes middle aged, and have lost their
ability to lead independent lives because they can't walk, or have
difficulty communicating or swallowing, or have lost cognitive functions.
- Patients recovering from orthopedic
procedures such as knee or hip surgery. These might involve injuries
resulting from falling or athletics.
- Patients who are "deconditioned".
These are people who become debilitated because they have a chronic
condition combined with a temporary acute illness. For example, someone who
has rheumatoid arthritis develops pneumonia and becomes so weak they need
therapy to regain their strength and ability to function.
- Patients who have had injuries to the head or spine or have suffered other neurological disorders.
The major function of rehabilitation is that it seeks to bridge the gap between a patient coming out of the traditional acute-care hospital setting, returning them to the life to which they are accustomed. While acute care focuses on the immediate treatment of a disease or condition, rehabilitation is aimed at working over time to getting the patient back to normal living. This is the final piece in the "continuum of care": rehabilitation is about going home and getting back to family and career.
It is more complex than it might seem at first glance. For example, at Southwest Regional Rehabilitation Center we staff professional therapists in several areas. These people are certified specialists in their respective fields.
Physical therapists work to restore the physical capabilities of patients such as strengthening arms and legs, regaining ambulatory capability, physical functionality.
Occupational therapists work with patients to integrate them into their home or work environment. This might involve something as basic as helping them to be functional in their own kitchen or living room, or to return to their jobs again.
Speech and audiology therapists treat problems relating to communication and related issues such as swallowing.
Medical social workers and psychologists help people deal with the non-physical aspects of recovery. There is often an enormous transition involved in returning to family and community following a traumatic event such as a stroke or head injury.
We also have an outpatient program to assist people in daily functions such as driving a car, working in their garden, or just getting around the house to cook and clean.
Rehabilitation has taken on more responsibility in today's health care climate, largely because of healthcare policies that emphasize earlier discharge of patients. We find that we need to provide more medical care such as IV or antibiotic therapy and treat problems that go beyond the traditional role of rehabilitation. Patients may still be quite ill when they are admitted into the rehab environment.
As a rehabilitation hospital, we have found that we have needed to expand our capabilities to deal with such situations. Every patient is overseen not only by a rehabilitation director, but a medical director as well. But our focus is always on this issue: how can we improve the quality of life of someone coming out of surgery, trauma, or stroke? How can we get them back to living the life they once knew?
We combine a variety of therapies and medical treatments to accomplish this. In fact, each patient has a team, depending on need. The vast majority of our patients are discharged back to home and community, and that is the final measure of rehabilitation's role in medicine.
| Southwest Regional Rehabilitation Center 393 E. Roosevelt Battle Creek, Michigan 49017 269.965.3206
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