Traumatic brain injury rehabilitation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Time to rehabilitation admission, length of stay and functional outcome.

OBJECTIVES: (1) Describe trends in time to rehabilitation admission and rehabilitation length of stay (LOS), (2) compare functional independence at discharge from rehabilitation between patients who arrived directly from acute care versus those from elsewhere and (3) identify independent predictors of functional outcomes following rehabilitation.

SETTING: Traumatic brain injuries rehabilitation unit of King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

METHODS: We collected information on time from injury to rehabilitation admission, rehabilitation LOS, functional independence measure (FIM) score (admission and discharge) and demographic variables for 66 patients who arrived to rehabilitation from acute care and 142 patients who arrived from elsewhere. A mixed model analysis of variance measured change in FIM score between groups. Hierarchical regression was employed to investigate variables associated with FIM score at rehabilitation discharge.

RESULTS: Patients arriving directly from acute care had a time from injury to rehabilitation admission 1/3 that of, and a higher discharge FIM score than, patients arriving from elsewhere. For the latter group, increasing time from injury to rehabilitation admission was associated with lower rehabilitation discharge FIM score.

CONCLUSIONS: Reducing time from injury to rehabilitation admission and promoting enrolment to inpatient traumatic brain injury rehabilitation directly from acute care may improve functional outcome at discharge from rehabilitation.