This section of the site houses rehabilitation blog posts, the posts from Rehabilitation Matters. The posts have been grouped into various categories, which may change from time to time. A post may be included in more than one category. Each post has some tags (at the bottom) to find other posts on the same topic. The posts are shown in the pages in their categories, with the most recent six shown separately at the end of this page – here. There is also an archive of all posts published on one page. You may register to be notified about new posts as they are published – see the sidebar on the right. Posts can be searched (not separately) using the search on the right. This introductory page introduces the overall goals of the posts and then discusses each category. You can move directly to a category using the menu or from the descriptions below.
Purpose.
The primary purpose of this rehabilitation blog is to develop and instil among clinicians involved in or interested in rehabilitation an identification with rehabilitation that is equal to any loyalty to a particular profession. I hope that others who may visit this site – patients and families, people paying for rehabilitation, politicians and people who are just curious – will also appreciate that rehabilitation is more significant than any single profession’s activities and that rehabilitation is a collaborative, team-based endeavour.
Objectives.
The direct objectives of the posts are to:
There are other, less focused and indirect objectives. They are to:
Values.
Posts will adhere to the following values:
There are many posts. They are grouped into different categories, and they are also tagged. To make life easier, each category has been given a separate section below.
This blog complements my Clinical Rehabilitation journal Twitter feed @ClinicalRehab, where, since March 2018, I have posted tweets drawing attention to articles that are, or should be, of interest to anyone working in rehabilitation. I tweet something new most days; blogs will be less frequent! Generally, the blog post will contain something stimulated by the article, which will only sometimes be a new publication. You may look at a list of tweets from @ClinRehab here. To look at the posts, click here.
This blog includes anything relating to rehabilitation that is not covered by specific blogs. They may contain comments on general policies from any source (e.g. Department of Health and Social Services, National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) relating to rehabilitation. They may cover matters relating to organisations and professional bodies interested in rehabilitation. They may be something I want to write about. It is an eclectic mixture of posts. To view them, click here.
These posts relate to the interface between models of illness, specifically the biomedical and biopsychosocial models, and how they may influence the rehabilitation process and the design of rehabilitation services. They continue the theme running through this site, that good quality rehabilitation can only occur if the clinical practice, the organisation of services, and the commissioning of services are based on the correct model. The post will often discuss how failure to use a suitable model is harmful. To see the posts, click here.
As you would expect, the posts in this category relate to education and training. Although much of the material arises from my interest in developing training for doctors (I led the work on a new curriculum and syllabus), I have become increasingly interested in improving the training available to other professions. The posts, I hope, expand upon that. The section of this site on capabilities (here) also expands on it. The posts can be accessed here.
This category of posts concerns the organisation of services – or, to be more brutal and honest, the lack of coherent organisation. It also includes posts suggesting how services can be improved, including by you. It is a part of raising your political interest. Decisions about resourcing rehabilitation and the organisation of services are intensely political, and we need to recognise that and act accordingly. Posts can be read here.
The posts in this category relate to the process of research, research methodology, and other similar matters. They are not explicitly concerned with the output or results. They can be seen here.
When this site started in 2020, the UK specialist medical society was the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine. (BSRM). There was an active debate about changing the name, and I posted several posts relating to the discussion. They remain here for historical interest. My opinion was not accepted in the vote at the end of 2021. The name changed in March 2022 to the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, which has its own category.
The posts in this category concern anything related to the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine, one of two specific rehabilitation societies in the UK. The other is the older of the two, founded about eight years earlier – the Society for Research in Rehabilitation.
The posts cover general matters and my observations on the debate, and they can all be accessed here.
In April 2022, the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine officially changed its name to the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation (BSPRM). Any posts concerning the UK specialist medical rehabilitation Society will now be filed into this category. They focus on matters that concern the BSPRM though I hope many will have a broader interest. They can be seen here.
The primary purpose of this category is to persuade people from different professions to put their head above the parapet and specify what unique expertise they bring to the multi-professional team. The only one so far is on a doctor’s contribution. The posts also include some considering profession-specific research, investigating what a profession add. To see them, click here.
Many blog posts go out of date and are no longer categorised though they remain available. If you wish to look through all blogs ever published, whether categorised or not, they are arranged in reverse date order, available here.
The biopsychosocial model of illness was born in 1977, with a reasonably well-documented gestation. Its growth and development are easily tracked, showing changes and improvements, and anyone can quickly discover the model. In contrast, the medical model, better termed the biomedical model, has been gestating and growing since about 1500, when the Scientific Revolution
What is the unique contribution of a speech and language therapist to the rehabilitation team’s collective expertise? I persuaded a brave colleague to write this post. Harriet Peel was the speech and language therapist in the rehabilitation team at the Dean Neurological Centre, a care home where I work. The content after the Table
“But what do doctors do in rehabilitation? “I have been asked this question since I became interested in rehabilitation. Many healthcare professionals, including managers, worryingly state, “We don’t need doctors in our rehabilitation service.” When asked to justify this, the usual reply is, “Well, we can always ask their GP or consultant if we
What type of long-term rehabilitation goals should we set with our patients in rehabilitation? I have previously argued that they should be made at the level of social participation, usually several years in the future. These rehabilitation aims are typically challenging to specify for a person, and often, they seem similar to the goals
A patient’s father recently asked me, “What is the usual rehabilitation curriculum for someone with problems like my son’s?”. Until then, I had only considered a rehabilitation curriculum in the context of educating and training healthcare professionals about rehabilitation. I had never thought of a patient’s rehabilitation curriculum. Although I have often said rehabilitation
The Community Rehabilitation Alliance recently published some Best Practice Standards for rehabilitation aimed at the newly founded NHS Integrated Care Boards that manage the Integrated Care System. It recommended the formation of a rehabilitation network, and the standards applied to the network were set out and summarised in tables. I have abstracted them into
Rehabilitation networks are the central theme of the recently published Rehab on Track. Community Rehabilitation Best Practice Standards. Its second recommendation is to “establish a local provider rehabilitation network to include primary, secondary, tertiary health care, mental health, social care, independent and third sector providers”. Moreover, its following recommendation is to “review existing rehabilitation
At a recent meeting in Genoa of RIMS (Rehabilitation in Multiple Sclerosis), Dr Carlotte Kiekens discussed the leadership of the rehabilitation team, providing some challenging evidence and ideas to consider. In this blog post, I will review the whole question of leadership in rehabilitation. Traditionally doctors have considered themselves the leader, which is still
Over the years, I have heard people advocating strongly for specialist rehabilitation services for people with stroke, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, motor neurone disease, Huntington’s disorder, and many other specific diseases. I have also heard people advocating specialist services for people with behavioural disorders (whatever that might be), memory and cognitive disorders, chronic
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