Abstract
Objective: To examine the epidemiology of referrals to a specialist neurotrauma clinic and explore and highlight implications for clinical practice and service development for persons with head injury/traumatic brain injury (HI/TBI).Design and methods: A retrospective population-based cohort study of all referrals to a specialist neurotrauma clinic over a 9-year period. Data from a specialist head injury database (which included all persons presenting to hospital with traumatic brain injury) were analysed.Results: In total, 1235 new patients of all ages, severities of injury, both admitted and non-admitted were referred. Referrals have increased due to successful integration with new service developments and resulting optimization of resources.Conclusions: Data gathered from the cohort gives increased understanding of the characteristics and numbers of patients requiring rehabilitation and adds to the evidence-base. Integration with new and complementary service developments has optimized the function/aims of the clinic and enhanced its role in terms of patient service and outcome and as a research resource. The model provides principles which may be applied to planning, organizing and providing follow-up/rehabilitation services for HI/TBI.
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