CBIST Spotlight: Mohammed Alatwi
Categories: ACBIS Insider, Professionals
Dr. Mohammed Khader Alatwi, MBBS, SBPM&R, CBIST is a board certified physician who specializes in brain injury rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Hospital in King Fahad Medical City. He is the chairperson of physical medicine and rehabilitation department and the hospital’s mortality and morbidity committee, and the medical director of the spasticity and baclofen pump program. Dr. Altawi is a founding member of Saudi Society of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, the Scientific Committee Head of Saudi Society of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and has published and participated in research for brain injury, concussion, and disabilities related topics.
What inspired you to work in the field of brain injury?
I have a personal experience with brain injury. During my residency program when I was in Jordan near the Dead Sea, I was hiking with my friends, and I fell from the waterfall. I tried to hold the rock but it was slippery and I hit my head many times. After that I got medical advice that I had a concussion. My symptoms were mild, but it affected my performance and in the same year I failed in the promotion exam as I had difficulty with concentration. I also remember during my residency training I had supervised a case of a patient who is a public figure in the community who had an unfortunate incident in a road traffic accident. His injury affected him in many ways, and he developed bio psycho social changes, which were barriers for him to return to his baseline. His world was turned upside down. He was one of the people who, throughout his journey, had a profound effect on my career. This gentleman did manage to change his perspective on his brain injury and chose to adapt and evolve taking me with him mentally.
Throughout my residency, I thought about our rehabilitation subspecialty and when I remembered my fall and concussion as well some patients during my training I realized that brain injury is a challenging specialty, and I decided to be brain injury physiatrist hoping to return the favor to other patients who need it.
In your experience, why is it important to consider cultural preferences and needs into the rehabilitation process?
Rehabilitation is special in that it is one of the specialties that takes the most holistic approach to the patient, and one of those ways is consideration for the social circumstances and cultural background. Knowing the patient’s own preferences helps us develop rapport with the patient and provide them with their own needs assuring their acceptance and compliance to their rehabilitation plan and reaching a common goal in a patient-centered manner.
The ways in which others perceive the category of disability influences access to resources for participation, and some disabilities may result in more restrictions to participation than others. Concepts rooted in a human rights perspective to disability enable checks on assumptions on which opportunities for community participation are configured and distributed to accommodate the full range of human attributes, thus making it likely for changes to occur toward disability-inclusive sociocultural systems.
As an example from brain injury rehabilitation at Saudi Arabia, there are important points about culture and cognitive rehabilitation as the cultural impact on cognition as some of the studies ideated that our cognition can be influenced by our culture as well as the learning system. For example, there are differences in memory between Arab and western people as Arabs tend to recall details that are attributed to learning the holy book. Also, cultural consideration is important when selecting the cognitive assessment, as they need to be valid, reliable, and culturally appropriate as well.
How do you believe making culture a consideration has an impact on a person’s overall recovery?
Initially, it is very important in developing rapport with the patient and assuring them we respect their beliefs and cultures. Also, knowing and addressing those aspects help us provide patient-centered care and attain common goals between healthcare providers and the patient, which will eventually assure better patient acceptance and compliance.
Every culture has its own values, needs, and life expectations, and these cultural elements modulate the person’s perception and cognition which affects the recovery if we use it in an appropriate way by modifying our assessment tools and management plan.
Saudi Arabic societies are known to be collectivist, meaning that a person acts as a member of a certain group rather than as an individual compared to other cultures, which promote individualism. This makes the rehabilitation program more effective by involving the patients in group therapy, meetings, and treatment plans, which promotes their recovery in rehabilitation. Ultimately, culture should be considered as a variable like age or gender during rehabilitation programs for good and acceptable recovery.