Clinical rehabilitation
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Clinical rehabilitation · Dec 2001
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyHome-based rehabilitation for people with stroke: a comparative study of six community services providing co-ordinated, multidisciplinary treatment.
To describe and compare six community services providing co-ordinated, multidisciplinary rehabilitation to people with stroke. ⋯ Community rehabilitation teams differed in their target populations, in the timing and duration of intervention. A taxonomy of four types of co-ordinated community-based rehabilitation for people with stroke is proposed: (1) Early-supported discharge rehabilitation aimed to reduce length of hospital stay and offered an alternative to hospital rehabilitation. (2) Post-discharge rehabilitation provided additional rehabilitation and aimed for a seamless transfer of patients from hospital to community. (3) General practitioner-oriented post-stroke rehabilitation provided an alternative to hospital admission and rehabilitation. (4) Late community rehabilitation provided patients with the opportunity of an autonomous service, unconnected with hospital or GP referral. Purchasers need to decide for what purpose a team is to be set up. Researchers need to be similarly aware of diversity in community rehabilitation before comparisons are made.