Inpatient Rehabilitation Early After Spinal Cord Injury

The International Spinal Cord Society and Quality of Life SIG present a fascinating discussion on ‘What Influences Quality of Life During Inpatient Rehabilitation Early After Spinal Cord Injury? Insights from Patients’ Perspectives’, featuring medical experts Anke Scheel-Sailer, Chief physician of musculoskeletal rehabilitation at the University of Lucerne and Maren Westphal, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Centre (CUMC). Host Kimberley Monden guides the conversation in this webinar – “In an explorative study, individuals with spinal cord injury described how social life, health, and the feeling of freedom influenced their quality of life (QoL) at the end of the first rehabilitation after SCI/D. Although QoL remains an individual experience, patients answered the standardized SCI QoL data set questions. Therefore, SCI QoL-BDS could be combined with individualized evaluation to integrate patients’ perspectives on their quality of life in this sensitive phase after SCI. Similarities between ratings for environment-related QoL and ratings for QoL related to social relationships point to the importance of healthcare professionals' sensitivity to the needs of individuals with SCI during the post-acute phase. Many of the healthcare professionals' attitudes, personal qualities, and behaviours that participants described as important to their QoL in the rehabilitation setting map onto elements of individualized and patient-centred care considered essential for creating a working alliance and sense of partnership in both rehabilitation and general medical settings.” The opinions of our host and guests are their own; ISCoS does not endorse any individual viewpoints, given products or companies. You can follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn #SpinalCordInjury #Rehabilitation #QualityOfLife #SCI #ISCoS