Maryse C. Cnossen, Hester F. Lingsma, Olli Tenovuo, Andrew I.R. Maas, David Menon, Ewout W. Steyerberg, Gerard M. Ribbers, Suzanne Polinder
Center for Medical Decision Sciences, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, 3015CN Rotterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: m.c.cnossen@erasmusmc.nl

DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2216

Variation in rehabilitation practices following traumatic brain injury in Europe

Rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury is important. A questionnaire, sent to 71 European centers, found substantial variation in both in-hospital rehabilitation practice and referral to rehabilitation facilities. For example, only half of the centers had access to a multidisciplinary team for consultation or possessed an in-hospital rehabilitation unit. Further, access to these resources was not uniform - young patients were often referred to specialized rehabilitation centers, whereas patients aged 65 years or older were more likely to be referred to nursing homes and local hospitals. This disparity in access to rehabilitation for older patients is inappropriate, since some previous studies show that elderly patients can make substantial improvement during specialized rehabilitative care. While resource limitation is likely to be important, this large variation might be partly explained by the lack of rehabilitation guidelines in the acute phase of TBI.

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