Seth Messinger, Sayeh Bozorghadad, Paul Pasquina
Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research, F Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 20814 Bethesda, USA. E-mail: seth.messinger.ctr@usuhs.edu

DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2274

In this article we discuss twenty former patients in a military outpatient physical rehabilitation program for service members with war related traumatically acquired limb amputations. These twenty former patients have all received care and are now living in the community. They describe their lives as being currently successful in terms of work, family, and community living. The main question posed in the lengthy interviews for this study is what role the rehabilitation program at the military hospital played, if any, in the former patients’ understanding of their current success.

These former patients described three features of the hospital program that they attribute to making a strong contribution to their current success. These were the psychological and social support they derived from the strong relationships they developed with their physical and occupational therapists, the routine meetings they had with their entire treatment team, and being able to recover alongside peers with similar injuries.
These three features of the program, long relationships with important care providers, access to the whole treatment team, and recovering alongside peers can be replicated in other medical settings that may not be as wealthy in biotechnology as are US based military hospitals.