New international certification program launched to improve stroke rehabilitation
· News-MedicalSean Savitz, MD, professor of neurology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and director of the UTHealth Houston Institute for Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases, served as co-senior author on the paper announcing the certification program, which was published today in the International Journal of Stroke.
Under the new program, healthcare entities can qualify for certifications based on three different tiers. To become certified, entities will be evaluated across 55 criteria that address service-level indicators, such as clear documentation, quality improvement and continuing education, as well as patient-level indicators, especially for different impairments.
Sean Savitz, MD, professor of neurology, McGovern Medical School, UTHealth HoustonYou need to have multidisciplinary teams that are providing care to the patient. You have to have people who represent different disciplines of rehab-occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, for example. We talk about aerobic exercise, strength training, and task-specific training, and how specific impairments such as difficulty swallowing should be evaluated and treated."
Additional authors with UTHealth Houston include Emily A. Stevens, pOTD, an occupational therapist at the UTHealth Houston Institute for Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases.
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