Physician Tip Card: When Your Patient is Living With Brain Injury

This physician tip card was prepared with support from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM), by members of the ACRM Chronic Brain Injury Task Force:

Lenore Hawley, MSSW, LCSW, CBIST (Craig Hospital); Summer L. Ibarra, Ph.D., ABPP-RP (Franciscan Health); Wendy Waldman, BSW, CBIST (Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana); Tiffany Armstrong, MSN, RN, CRRN, CBIS (Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals); Tasnia Iqbal, CBIS (University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine ); Flora M Hammond, MD, (Indiana University School of Medicine, Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana)

Here is an excerpt of this tip card:

Key points about brain injury (BI):

• BI can affect every aspect of an individual’s functioning, leaving some with lifelong challenges.
• Brain injury can be traumatic (TBI) or non-traumatic.
• Injury severity (mild, moderate, severe) does not necessarily predict long-term outcome.
• Many sequelae are difficult to see and therefore may be easy to misinterpret (e.g. lack of initiation, cognitive overload,
• difficulty recognizing social cues).
• Each injury is unique, like a thumbprint.
• Improvements can occur after initial recovery; re-engagement in therapeutic activities may be beneficial even years post-injury.

To download the tip card, click here.