Authors

  1. Brown-Lewis, Rosemary MS, CCC-Sp
  2. Haarbauer-Krupa, Juliet MA, CCC-Sp

Article Content

Objectives: To understand rehabilitation outcomes in children based on the location of their initial emergency care. Hypothesis: Children who received their early medical treatment in a designated trauma center have better outcomes in rehabilitation. Participants: Participants are 150 patients seen in the Day Rehabilitation Program at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta during the years 2002-2003. Methods: Data were obtained from patients with a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury who are admitted to the Day Rehab Program at CHOA during 2002-2003. Retrospective inspection of records was conducted to obtain information on the type and location of their initial emergency care. Program outcome was measured by performance on a measure of functional outcome and length of stay in a rehabilitation program. Results: Results show a shorter length of stay in day rehabilitation for children seen in trauma centers for their emergency care. However, children who remained longer in a day rehabilitation program demonstrated greater functional outcome gains as measured by the WeeFIM. Conclusions: Conclusions offer a discussion about factors in emergency care that influence rehabilitation outcomes for children, such as proximity of treatment, transfer to a designated trauma center, and injury severity. Result from this study raise the possibility that for this cohort of children, nondesignated trauma centers have improved the quality and consistency of their care in response to children who are injured.

 

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