Interdisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation of acquired brain injury-Part-1: impairment based assessment and rehabilitation

The objective of this review is to describe the major impairments resulting from acquired brain injury (ABI) and their rehabilitation interventions resulting in better functional outcomes. Because of the nature of deficits and treatment cost, these patients may be lost to follow up. Comprehensive rehabilitation services integrated with neurosciences units are scarce in Pakistan. Keeping in view the diversity and chronicity of impairments, the follow up needs to be well planned in terms of duration and patient convenience. The rehabilitation needs of these patients go beyond physiotherapy alone, which is considered as the only form of rehabilitation in Pakistan. We focus only on the major impairments most seen after ABI. The rehabilitation team members providing their services and the possibilities are comprehensively explained in the review. These types of services need to be run by government and funded by government, with parallel efforts to make national guidelines and registry to keep a track of patients suffering from ABI. The proposed ABI rehabilitation pathway will not only improve the clinical care and continued support delivered by health services to adults with ABI but will also facilitate community reintegration and support their families and care givers.