Benefits of Inpatient Rehabilitation

The more quickly the rehabilitation process begins, the better the outcome. Our inpatient rehabilitation unit ensures that the process can begin immediately after a patient is released from acute care, ensuring continuity of care.

What Is the Purpose of Rehabilitation?

Rehabilitation, when it is referred to as part of inpatient rehabilitation, is the highest level of physical care a patient will receive as they work with their health team to improve, restore, and maintain functional ability that will help them resume the highest quality of life they can attain following an injury, illness, surgery, or other health event. It is an intensive, multi-disciplinary approach with direct physician oversight to properly manage medical issues so patients can maximize their participation in rehab with decreased pain and improved endurance.

What Are the Positive Effects of Rehabilitation?

There is much evidence that rehabilitation has a positive effect on the patient, even reaching into their family dynamics, their role within the community, at their job, and throughout daily living. Rehabilitation can reduce the impact of a broad range of health conditions, diseases, illnesses or injuries. It can also complement medical and surgical interventions by helping patients achieve the best outcome possible.

What Is the Benefit of Inpatient Rehabilitation?

Rehabilitation benefits patients, families, communities, businesses, and our society. It can equip people with self-management strategies and the assistive products they need to perform their activities of daily living. It helps reduce pain or other complications.

Since our inpatient unit is located within a Lifespan hospital, a multidisciplinary team provides a higher level of care than is typically offered at other rehabilitation facilities that are not affiliated with an academic health system. We also provide continuity of care with electronic access to your medical record across the Lifespan Health System.  Your care will be overseen by our physiatrists -- physicians who specialize in rehabilitative medicine.

Your medical team may include:

• Physician specialists
• Registered nurses
• Certified nursing assistants
• Physical and occupational therapists
• Speech language pathologists
• A social worker
• A dietitian
• A neuropsychologist

A care manager will be assisting with discharge planning and post-rehabilitation services.

Team Approach

The rehabilitation teams meet weekly to review and plan each patient's treatment plan. Estimated discharge dates and discharge needs for services and equipment are also discussed. The results of this meeting are communicated to patients and caregivers by the case manager.

Family Involvement

We encourage your family to observe and participate in your therapy and care. You will be given a schedule each day, and your family is invited to talk with your nurse about participating in a specific activity.

It is helpful to the team if families identify the primary caregiver as soon as possible, because the primary caregiver might be asked to participate in one or more of the following activities:

• Observing therapies and nursing activities for a full morning or afternoon
• Hands-on participation with therapists and nurses in:
  • Bed or wheelchair positioning
  • Wheelchair mobility and ambulation
  • Strategies for attention and communication
  • Personal care needs
  • Medication education
  • Home exercise program
• A community outing or home evaluation to begin transition from the rehabilitation setting, based on your specific needs.

Learn more about Vanderbilt Rehabilitation