“Epworth has specialist acquired brain injury rehabilitation (or ABI rehabilitation) units located at Epworth Richmond and Epworth Camberwell, in Victoria. The inpatient and outpatient programs provide trauma rehab for people from the early stages after emerging from a coma through to addressing issues relating to their return to community living.”
The results of this study suggest that early follow-up of at risk patients can have a positive influence on patients’ well-being, and that low-intensive, low-cost telephone counseling is more effective than a psychological intervention at improving outcomes.
Among adolescent athletes, a high initial symptom burden (e.g. headache, nausea, vomiting) increases the odds of symptoms continuing beyond 28 days following injury.
“Predictors of outcomes after inpatient rehabilitation differed by sex, providing evidence for a sex-specific approach in planning and resource allocation for inpatient rehabilitation services for patients with TBI.”
“Our empirical data confirm that SBS [“Shaken Baby Syndrome”] and AHT [“Abusive Head Trauma”] are still generally accepted by physicians who frequently encounter suspected child abuse cases, and are considered likely sources of subdural hematoma, severe retinal hemorrhages, and coma or death in young children. Other than a high-velocity motor vehicle collision, no alternative theories of causation for these findings are generally accepted.”
“For the 5-15% of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) who will have lingering physical, behavioral, or cognitive problems 3 to 6 months after their injury, identification of this at-risk population is essential for early intervention. Existing models used to predict poor outcomes after mTBI are unsatisfactory, according to a new study, and new, more relevant predictive factors are different than those used in cases of moderate or severe TBI, as described in the study published in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.”
A research thesis on Traumatic Brain Injury entitled, “Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation: Survivors’ Perspectives.”
“The Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) aims to discover the fundamental mechanisms regulating brain function in health and disease, in particular understanding the brain circuitry underlying function.” At QBI, Dr Fatima Nasrallah’s research group studies brain injury.
“The National Trauma Research Institute (NTRI) conducts research into the care of injured people. The NTRI Forum is a three-year project that aims to improve the care of brain, spinal cord, or other major traumatic injuries. The Forum is authored by Dr Loretta Piccenna, and is supported by the Alfred Hospital, and Monash University.”
Brain Injury Australia provides links below to several Forum items (“Dialogues”) we think are relevant to brain injury:
This Forum provides evidence-based recommendations for Cognitive [thinking] Rehabilitation following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Download Dialogue Summary.
This NTRI Forum offers a research program to address behaviours of concern that arise from TBI, such as aggression, agitation, sexual inappropriateness and lack of initiation. Download Dialogue Summary.
This NTRI Forum focuses on developing an individualised plan for a patient with a brain injury prior to leaving hospital for home (discharge planning). Download Dialogue Summary.
This NTRI Forum identifies key outcomes for brain injury rehabilitation, and provides ideas for developing a minimum dataset of brain injury rehabilitation outcomes for Victoria. Download Dialogue Summary.
This NTRI Forum offers strategies to informal carers that can help them to care for people with long-term disabilities. Download Dialogue Summary.
This NTRI Forum aims to provide a set of best-practices for treating and managing spasticity following TBI. Download Dialogue Summary.
This NTRI Forum provides return-to-work practices following traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, and identifies some of the factors that can help or hinder these practices. Download Dialogue Summary.
This NTRI Forum describes the factors which influence self-directed funding by people with a long-term disability. Download Dialogue Summary.
This NTRI Forum provides information on post-traumatic epilepsy in people following traumatic brain injury. Download Dialogue Summary.
“Royal Rehab’s Adaptive Sport Rec and Leisure Service initiative is the go-to service to help you discover community based sport, recreation and leisure opportunities tailored to your abilities. Our team partner with disability sport and recreation providers to offer opportunities for you to try new and different activities with sustainable participation opportunities. Some of our current partners include Sports Climbing Australia, Tennis Australia, Empower Golf Australia, Disabled Wintersport Australia and Wheelchair Sports NSW.”
“The 2017 Concussion in Sport Group (CISG) consensus statement is designed to build on the principles outlined in the previous statements 1–4 and to develop further conceptual understanding of sport-related concussion (SRC) using an expert consensus-based approach. This document is developed for physicians and healthcare providers who are involved in athlete care, whether at a recreational, elite or professional level.”
“The Concussion Recognition Tool 5 (CRT5) is the most recent revision of the Pocket Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 2 that was initially introduced by the Concussion in Sport Group in 2005. The CRT5 is designed to assist non-medically trained individuals to recognise the signs and symptoms of possible sport-related concussion and provides guidance for removing an athlete from play/sport and to seek medical attention. This paper presents the development of the CRT5 and highlights the differences between the CRT5 and prior versions of the instrument.”
“This paper presents the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 5th Edition (SCAT5), which is the most recent revision of a sport concussion evaluation tool for use by healthcare professionals in the acute evaluation of suspected concussion. The revision of the SCAT3 (first published in 2013) culminated in the SCAT5. The SCAT5 is intended for use in those who are 13 years of age or older.”
“This article presents the Child Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 5th Edition (Child SCAT5). Following the 4th International Consensus Conference, held in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2012, the SCAT 3rd edition (Child SCAT3) was developed for children aged between 5 and12 years. Research to date was reviewed and synthesised for the 5th International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport in Berlin, Germany, leading to the current revision of the test, the Child SCAT5.”
“TBI Express is a communication-training program for people with traumatic brain injury, their families, friends and carers.”
This excellent documentary series produced by AttitudeLive in New Zealand shows the challenges of rehabilitation from a brain injury.
“We represent the more than 353,800 Australians living with dementia and the estimated 1.2 million Australians involved in their care. We advocate for the needs of people living with all types of dementia, and for their families and carers, and provide support services, education and information. Alzheimer’s Australia is a member of Alzheimer’s Disease International, the umbrella organisation of Alzheimer’s Associations around the world.”
Australian Institute of Sport and Australian Medical Association Concussion in Sport Position Statement (2016). “This Position Statement is intended to ensure that participant safety and welfare is paramount when dealing with concussion in sport.”
“The Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) is used for assessing athletes for concussion. SCAT3 is used in athletes aged 13 years and older, and it supersedes the original SCAT and the SCAT2, published in 2005 and 2009. The SCAT3 is designed for use by medical professionals.”
“The Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) is used for assessing athletes for concussion. The Child-Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) 3 is used for evaluating injured children aged from 5 to 12 years, for concussion. The Child-SCAT3 is designed for use by medical professionals.”
A guide to the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) 3 for doctors: The “Concussion in Sport Education Package for Doctors SCAT3 Guide.”
“CANS is used to measure the level of support needs of older adolescents (16 years or older) and adults with Traumatic Brain Injury.”
“The Paediatric Care and Needs Scale (PCANS) 2 is designed to measure the type and extent of support needs for young people aged 5 to 15 years who have a brain injury.”
Synapse, based in New South Wales and Queensland, offers accommodation services for people with brain injury “that promotes personal development and dignity and encourages increased independence.” Available accommodation services: Transitional Accommodation, 24/7 Supported Housing, Independent Living, and Community Access Options.
“Based in New South Wales (NSW), Acquired Brain Injury Services is a not for profit specialist service for people with an acquired brain injury (ABI). We have been providing support to people with ABI since 1986. Our aim is to support people with an acquired brain injury to live the life they choose.”
“We strive to reconnect the lives of those most at risk within our community, those affected by a brain injury. Nation-wide Synapse seeks to focus both government and public support to realise funding for the development of highly specialist services in the areas of accommodation, education and training.”
Based in Victoria, Brain Injury Matters “is a not for profit self-advocacy organisation that aims to empower people living with an acquired brain injury.”
BrainLink Services is a “Victorian-based service that is dedicated to improving the quality of life of people affected by acquired disorders of the brain.”
Brain Injury South Australia is “a dynamic organisation that empowers and supports people living with an acquired brain injury (ABI), and we deliver specialist services and programs to see them achieve their very best.”
“As individual parts of the brain controls the various things that we do, some of the following experiences may occur, or they may not. Each person is unique and consequently may not ever undergo any of these changes.”
