Spinal cord injury in organizational setup - A hospital based descriptive study

Abstract

Introduction: There is dearth of data on Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) from developing countries where ironically, special focus is required. Aims and Objectives: To study SCI in an organisational set up. Material and Methods: An observational, cross sectional study at a tertiary care rehabilitation centre was conducted. Patients who had injury during service were included. Questionnaire and case records were used to collect socio-demographic variables, cause, level, severity and duration of injury and clinical, functional and psychological status. Organisational support was estimated for pre-hospitalisation services, inpatient welfare measures and post-hospitalisation rehabilitative services. Results: A total of 157 patients participated. Median age at time of injury was 27 years with 89.2% injuries within 18 - 37 years of age. Trauma was underlying cause in 94.3%. Most common level of injury was thoracic (37.6%) and majority (66.9%) were paraplegic. RTA was most common (42.6%) traumatic cause and Tuberculosis among non-traumatic causes(66.6%). Scores suggestive of stress disorder were present in 13%. Pre-hospitalization health facilities were available to 79.6%. Majority (59.2%) had access to health facilities within two hours. Personal assistance was available to 88.5% and 66.9% undertook rehabilitation course. Conclusion: Health education with emphasis to trauma prevention in young is required. Social security measures need to be replicated by all organisations, both public and private in the country.