Team-based rehabilitation after mild traumatic brain injury – description of the clinical pathway

Purpose: Describe clinical practice, inter-disciplinary clinical pathway and core principles of care within a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) rehabilitation team. 

Methods: An observational study examined inter-disciplinary practice, nested within an observational trial investigating team-based mTBI rehabilitation. Data were collected to describe clinical service over 12 months. Activity data quantified clinical sessions per participant, mode of service delivery and content of sessions using custom-designed codes. The clinical team gathered narrative data to confirm the inter-disciplinary clinical pathway and individual discipline practice. 

Results: 168 participants entered the rehabilitation program during the 12 months. A single Allied Health Screening Assessment identified patient priorities. Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physiotherapy (PT) provided the majority of clinical sessions; the team also comprised Social Work, Rehabilitation Medicine, Speech Pathology and Clinical Psychology. Telehealth was the most common service delivery mode (54%). Median session numbers per participant ranged 1–4 for all disciplines; mean/maximum occasions of service were highest for PT (6.9/44) and OT (6.8/39). 

Conclusion: A small proportion of participants received much higher number of sessions, consistent with intractable issues after mTBI. High attendance rates indicate the predominantly telehealth-delivered model was feasible. The clinical approach included early prioritizing of discipline input and follow-up after discharge.