International Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Open Access

Abstract

The Tipping Point: Perspectives on SCI Rehabilitation Service Gaps in Canada

B Catharine Craven, Christina Balioussis, Molly C Verrier and the E-Scan Investigative Team

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is a life-changing event that can have a significant impact on all aspects of a person’s life. Changes in sensory, motor and autonomic function often impede the individual′s activities of daily living, emotional wellbeing, and quality of life. As a person with SCI ages, they experience multimorbidity that compromises their health and functional abilities, and exacerbates caregiver burden. It is therefore pertinent to revolutionize current SCI rehabilitation and address these issues through health care service and policy reform. The Environmental Scan (E-Scan) Atlas is the product of a translational research project that sought to describe current Canadian tertiary SCI rehabilitation service delivery in order to prescribe necessary changes in knowledge generation, clinical application and policy, to achieve evolution in Canadian rehabilitation service delivery. This manuscript presents perspectives and key national messages derived from the E-Scan scoping review process, in hopes that the content will provoke an international dialogue intended to enhance rehabilitation service delivery in Canada by the year 2020.