Occupational, Physical, and Speech Therapy Treatment Activities During Inpatient Rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Objective To describe the use of occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech therapy (ST) treatment activities throughout the acute rehabilitation stay of patients with traumatic brain injury. Design Multisite prospective observational cohort study. Setting Inpatient rehabilitation settings. Participants Patients (N=2130) admitted for initial acute rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury. Patients were categorized on the basis of admission FIM cognitive scores, resulting in 5 fairly homogeneous cognitive groups. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Percentage of patients engaged in specific activities and mean time patients engaged in these activities for each 10-hour block of time for OT, PT, and ST combined. Results Therapy activities in OT, PT, and ST across all 5 cognitive groups had a primary focus on basic activities. Although advanced activities occurred in each discipline and within each cognitive group, these advanced activities occurred with fewer patients and usually only toward the end of the rehabilitation stay. Conclusions The pattern of activities engaged in was both similar to and different from patterns seen in previous practice-based evidence studies with different rehabilitation diagnostic groups.