How music is helping to diagnose children with DOC
Due to advances in healthcare, more children than ever are surviving brain injuries. Some, however, may remain in a coma or with a disorder of consciousness (DOC). This can cause diagnostic, ethical and clinical challenges, and misdiagnoses can lead to inadequate care, and insufficient access to treatment, rehab, and services...
For adults with DOC, clinicians can use the Music therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness (MATADOC) to better understand the patient’s recovery, but until recently, there hasn’t been anything similar for children.Acquired brain injuries can lead to language impairment. And for some children, their language may not have been fully developed before their injury. This renders language-based tests unsuitable for getting proper responses from children to gauge their needs and recovery.
“We couldn’t be certain of our clients’ safety, so we shut down”
Well-known across South Wales for providing an essential rehabilitation service to patients with brain injuries and neurological conditions, Neuro Physio Wales took decisive action to protect them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sara Davis, neurophysiotherapist and director of the Bridgend clinic, explains more.
Back in March, as it became clear that lockdown was coming, we knew we had to make a decision as to how we would handle the weeks and months ahead. As a very busy centre, we had a full clinic and many patients were waiting for appointments due to the demand we were seeing - but what had to come first was ensuring their safety. We have a great mix of clients who come here, but some are very vulnerable with complex needs, and the risk to them was especially great.
Reflecting on the rapidly changing world of case management
To help assess the changing nature of case management, Heidi Stevens has produced a research protocol, ‘The effectiveness of a case management approach to care for adults who suffer trauma through injury: protocol for a systematic review’. Here, she discusses her aims and ambitions for the protocol, which is set to be released later this month.
What is your background and what are you doing currently? I am an associate public health nutritionist and have just started working on a systematic review for Teesside University investigating weight management interventions for people with severe mental health issues.
“I lost so much but had to let go and move on”
A recent study by Headway found that 72 per cent of brain injury survivors feel that people in their life don't understand their memory problems, with 81 per cent reporting that their life would be improved if people had a better understanding of this complex condition.
Karl Hargreaves, 49, is just one of those people battling severe memory loss following a brain injury. He is sharing his story as part of Headway’s Memory Loss: A campaign to remember in order to raise awareness and increase understanding of life after brain injury. Years of precious memories were wiped in an instant when the father from Lincoln was involved in a road traffic collision in 2015.
Driverless vehicles and injury
The Government has recently indicated that they are intending to consult on changing the law in the near future so as to allow level three automated vehicles on the road, writes David Withers of Irwin Mitchell.
There are six levels of automation: Level 0: The driver performs all of the tasks associated with driving the vehicle; Level 1: Some driving features are included but the driver controls the vehicle; Level 2: The vehicle has automated functions but the driver must monitor the environment and be ready to take control at all times; Level 3: The driver is a necessity but does not need to monitor the environment at all times; Level 4: The vehicle can perform all driving functions under certain conditions; Level 5: The vehicle can perform all driving functions under all conditions.
The Curious Case Manager episode 4: Jane Kingston
In this edition of the Curious Case Manager Vicki talks to Jane Kingston, advocacy manager at ‘Connected Voices Advocacy’.
Jane provides an interesting overview of advocacy in the UK and outlines the role of the advocate in supporting clients to have a voice, access the services they need and to ensure their rights are upheld. Vicki and Jane discuss their collaboration on commissioning and providing specialist advocacy services for individual clients with neurological conditions and cover topics such as: the impact of the Mental Capacity Act, the ‘watching brief’ approach, the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, using an assets-based approach and the impact of the coronavirus crisis on working with clients in the community and in hospital settings.
Recovering from aphasia is marathon, not sprint, researchers say
New research has found that intensive therapy is not necessarily best when it comes to treating the loss of language and communication in early recovery after a stroke.
Published in the International Journal of Stroke, the research found that unlike physical and motor skill rehabilitation, recovering lost language caused by a condition known as aphasia after stroke is a marathon, not a sprint. It also showed that early intervention is crucial.
New sentencing guidelines in focus
The guidelines seek to redress this lacuna and are reflective of the broader efforts across society to understand and de-stigmatise such conditions. The guidelines stipulate that “the fact that an offender has an impairment or disorder should always be considered by the court, but will not always have an effect on sentencing”. Each case will be fact specific and an individualistic approach to sentencing is encouraged, taking into account the wide range of disorders and the varying levels of impairment between individuals.
Tech challenges and opportunities ahead for case managers – report
The use of telerehabilitation has an important role in the future of case management, but a case-by-case approach and better patient education is needed to ensure its continuing efficacy, a new report has concluded.
While it is accepted as a safe and effective means of service delivery for initial triage, immediate needs assessment and subsequent case management and treatment coordination phases - backed by clinical support where needed - the research recommends that a number of factors need to be considered on a patient-by-patient basis to fulfil an effective consultation.
