The Journal of head trauma rehabilitation
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J Head Trauma Rehabil · Jul 2005
Comparative StudyMortality and morbidity from moderate to severe traumatic brain injury in Argentina.
After adopting the Guidelines for the Management of Severe Head Injury, critical care physicians in Argentina reduced the mortality rate of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, there is no in-hospital or postdischarge rehabilitation services for persons with TBI in Argentina. Thus, severely disabled survivors were being discharged to home without follow-up or long-term care. ⋯ TBI is a major public health concern in Argentina. However, rehabilitation for TBI is not a part of this country's medical system. The greatest proportion of expired patients in the Argentine sample died of secondary complications such as pneumonia or sepsis, which may have been avoided employing basic medical rehabilitation. The next research questions to be addressed in this population should be designed to identify solutions to the immediate need for rehabilitation, including treatment efficacy questions as well as questions about systems for delivering treatments.
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J Head Trauma Rehabil · Jul 2005
Executive function and self-awareness of "real-world" behavior and attention deficits following traumatic brain injury.
To investigate the relationship between executive function and awareness of real-world behavioral and attentional dysfunction in persons with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and uninjured controls. ⋯ Although executive function was associated with ISA in this sample, further research is needed to determine whether executive function deficits contribute in a causal fashion to ISA, and which of the cognitive operations within executive function are responsible for supporting self-awareness.