Neurorehabilitation 2 and Post-Coma

Clinical and Research Activities

The Neurorehabilitation 2 Department ensures the opportunity of rehabilitation for patients suffering from deficits of movement and cognitive-behavioural disorders caused by neurological diseases and trauma. It holds a particular speciality, both from a clinical and research perspective, in the treatment of patients with severe brain injury and consciousness disorders. Patients transfer from hospitals where they presented acute acquired brain injury with or without coma and were treated in Units such as Intensive Care, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Cardiac Surgery or Stroke Units. On admission, the patient must be post acute but may present in a vegetative state, minimally conscious state or with severe disability. Patients may be subject to a tracheostomy tube and receiving nutrition through a nasogastric tube or PEG.

Rehabilitation Programs

The team is composed of neurologists, physical therapists, speech therapists, psychologists and neuropsychologists, nurses and health workers. The staff are also supported by psychotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers and other specialists whose activities complete an interdisciplinary approach to inpatient rehabilitation. On admission, the state of consciousness and residual cognitive abilities determine the specific course of rehabilitation to be taken and the prospects for functional recovery of the patient. A team of neuropsychologists and speech therapists specializing in cognitive behavioral rehabilitation of post-coma patients, intervenes in the development of skills of recovery or compensation of cognitive and behavioral deficits. The speech therapist, the pulmonologist, respiratory therapists and speech therapists engage to treat patients requiring the tracheostomy tube, nasogastric tube or PEG.

Psychological Support Service for the Family

Psychological support is available for the family of the post-comatose patient with severe brain injury outcomes. This service is also assured to Santa Lucia Foundation patients and families admitted on an inpatient or day hospital basis. Psychologists engage to recognize a severe brain injury as a traumatic event not only for the patient, but also for those who live alongside the patient. It provides family members (and caregivers) psychological support, theoretical knowledge and practical skills, which are useful to provide effective support to the patient. In this way, the caregiver is able to work in harmony with the objectives and practices foreseen by the protocols of rehabilitation, providing in turn to psychologists important relevant information about the patient's family, environment and developments throughout the period of rehabilitation. You can contact the Service at supporto.psicologico@hsantalucia.it.

Patient Discharge

Once the patient's discharge from hospital ward is certain, the patient and family receive the support of Social Workers. The procedure involves the activation of the network of regional health facilities, which are required to ensure the availability of equipment and practical aids if they return home (CAD = Center for Home Care) or in receive additional treatment in the Extensive Rehabilitation Center or are placed in Health Care Residences (RSAs).