Individuals who have experienced brain injury are likely to have difficulty with memory, communication, thinking and reasoning skills. They also may have problems maintaining appropriate behavior in social situations. The Inpatient Brain Injury Program at Kernan Hospital offers a supportive therapeutic environment for adults and adolescents with brain injuries. Through comprehensive structural, cognitive remediation, behavioral management and physical rehabilitation sessions, the program assist patients in reaching the highest possible level of independence and social functioning in order to achieve community re-entry whenver possible.
Kernan offers a brain injury support group as well as a weekly brain injury program for inpatients and their families. Located adjacent to the brain injury unit is the Brain Ijury Association for Maryland. Click here for more information.
University Post-Acute Care Services has created a system of brain injury rehabilitation with services at Kernan Hospital and University Specialty Hospital. This inpatient/outpatient system allows University Post-Acute Care Services to provide appropriate services for individuals with a range of medical and physical problems, from the comatose and ventilator-dependent to the physically independent but cognitively impaired.
The treatment approach is personalized and goal-oriented. At admission, members of the patient care team provide comprehensive assessments of patient needs. The team members then work together to create an individualized treatment plan and to provide ongoing care designed to help the patient work toward his rehabilitation goals. This team approach ensures a high degree of ongoing medical attention and continuity of care.
Depending on individual patient needs, the team on our inpatient brain injury rehabilitation unit may include:
A patient's interdisciplinary team holds weekly meetings to discuss and evaluate his or her progress and care. Family conferences, attended by the interdisciplinary team and the patient and his or her family members, are arranged as needed to review the patient's medical status, capability for independent functioning and rehabilitation goals. During these conferences, family members are encouraged to ask questions and express any concern they may have about their loved one's progress, discharge and at-home care needs.
Family involvement in brain injury rehabilitation is paramount. The Inpatient Brain Injury Program features an array of educational offerings designed to train family members on the techniques needed to assist their loved one and help them understand the effects of brain injuries. Family and caregiver and support groups also are available.
The Brain Injury program at Kernan is separate from other patient care units, have their own dining and activity areas, and feature state-of-the-art patient care areas. The comfortable settings reduce anxiety, quicker recovery, and maintain patients dignity and quality of life. The five levels of care are as follows:
The Coma Emergence Program available at Kernan Hospital provides medical and rehabilitative treatment to help bring patients to their highest level of function as they emerge from coma. When patients recover enough to participate in an acute impatient brain injury recovery program, they are transferred to the Acute Rehabilitation Program at Kernan. For those patients whose recovery will take longer, the staff assists families in making plans for placement at other levels of care.
The Acute Rehabilitation Program at Kernan provides intensive, goal-directed rehabilitation services to help each patient achieve the highest possible level of physical, cognitive and behavioral function before being discharged into the community. Physical, occupational, speech and therapeutic recreational therapists, provided Monday through Saturday, focus on the improvement of daily living skills. Patients on this unit must be able to actively participate in 3 or more hours of therapy daily. The average length of stay is less than 16 days and most patients return home after discharge. While at Kernan, patients have access to outstanding rehabilitation facilities, including well-equipped gyms, a 48-foot hydrotherapy pool, healing garden, sports court and access to beautiful grounds.
Kernan's Brain Injury Program is accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) as a Brain Injury Comprehensive Inpatient Rehabilitation Program.
As patients and their families prepare for discharge, the rehabilitation team will introduce them to Kernan Hospital's broad array of outpatient therapy services. These services, all of which follow a coordinated plan of care, include neuropsychological follow-up care; speech-language, occupational and physical therapies; physician care and the Day Hospital Program.
Team members also may put patients and families in contact with community-based clinical and support services. For more information about outpatient therapy services, please call 410-448-6599.
The importance of family involvement in brain injury rehabilitation is paramount. All programs hold family conferences and offer educational programs to train family members on proper techniques for assisting the patient in progressing toward a higher level of independence and on the nature and effects of brain injury.