Rehabilitation can be defined as maximizing the physical, mental, social, occupational, special activity, and educational potential of an individual with physiological or anatomical deficiencies and maladjustment to the environment.
Rehabilitation is a dynamic process and includes extended care programs for inpatients and outpatients, ranging from the prevention of disability to early diagnosis.
Neurological rehabilitation units are units where inpatient and outpatient diagnosis, treatment, and all kinds of rehabilitation services are provided to patients with neurological diseases.
These units include,
- PM&R specialist,
- Neurologist,
- Orthopedist,
- Internal medicine specialist,
- General surgeon,
- Psychiatrist,
- Cardiologist,
- Neurosurgery specialist,
- Anesthesiologist – Algologist.
The main goal of rehabilitation is to increase function and improve the functional capacity of patients so that they are as independent as possible in daily life.
In neurological rehabilitation,
- Spinal cord injuries
- Stroke (paralysis)
- Head trauma
- Multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Parkinson's disease
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Spinocerebellar diseases
- Syringomyelia
- Spasticity
- Poliomyelitis and post-polio syndrome
- Polyneuropathies
- Entrapment neuropathies
- Peripheral nerve injuries
- Brachial plexus injuries
- Muscular dystrophies are treated.
During the rehabilitation process, the PM&R specialist works multidisciplinarily in the treatment of these patients. In other words, together with all the clinical physicians listed above, they shape the patient's rehabilitation process.
In addition to working with other clinical physicians, a large non-physician healthcare team is also an integral part of the rehabilitation process.
The members of this team
- Physiotherapist
- Rehabilitation nurse
- Occupational therapist
- Psychologist
- Speech and language therapist
- Social worker
- Orthotist-prosthetist
- Recreational therapist
- Vocational counselors
- Dietitian
- Ergotherapist.
It is a care system aimed at improving the quality of life in progressive, untreatable diseases or diseases with slow-progressing treatments.
Healthcare services resemble a tree with roots being physical, mental, psychological, and social life, and branches being the hospital intensive care unit, palliative intensive care unit, nursing home, home care, day hospital care, consultant physician, etc. You cannot separate the branches from the roots.
In Turkey, patients and their families mostly demand "intensive care" for end-of-life care instead of home care, palliative care, skilled nursing facility, or hospice. Advanced life support is defined as the place where suddenly developing symptoms—either occurring previously in a healthy individual or due to an underlying chronic progressive disease—are treated, and where patients with a chance of survival are hospitalized. Brain hemorrhage, heart attack, or traffic accidents can be given as examples of these conditions.
Evaluating the care status of patients in Intensive Care Units and ensuring their transfer to other professional care types will alleviate the care burdens of patients and their families, and will provide maximum efficiency in the level of benefit from their treatment, the morale level of patients and their relatives, and cost-effectiveness.
Expectations from the Neurorehabilitation Unit:
In studies, the expectations of patients and their relatives are listed as comfort, symptom management, emotional support, information, education, communication, being consulted on patient-related decisions and having authority in this regard, and receiving clear answers to their questions at any time from those providing patient care.
In line with these expectations, patients and their relatives expect facilities with personalized, compatible, and flexible care opportunities where they can spend more time with the patient. The Neurorehabilitation Unit is an organization established in line with these expectations.
