Effect of Long-Term Rehabilitation and Welfare Services on Daily Activities in Cerebral Stroke Patients

• Published in: Rihabiritēshon igaku Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 232 - 236
• Main Authors: KIMURA, Itaru, KUJIRAI, Kayoko, ANDO, Kazumasa, SEKI, Hareaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine 1996
• Subjects: functional assessment; long-term prognosis; rehabilitation; stroke; welfare services
• ISSN: 0034-351X; 1880-778X
• DOI: 10.2490/jjrm1963.33.232

After discharge from a rehabilitation hospital, persons with motor and/or cognitive disabilities may not be able to maintain health effectively without adequate personal assistance with activities of daily living (ADL) and rehabilitation services in their locality. In this report, we compared three-year-outcome of 75 cerebral stroke patients who admitted for treatment and medical rehabilitation in Miyagi National Hospital from 1989 to 1994. Of 75 patients, 42 discharged to the Control-A-District where executes standard welfare services, and other 33 patients to the Model-B-District where carrys out relatively sufficient personal assistance of ADL and visiting rehabilitation services being operated by almost twice numbers of visiting nurses, helpers, physical and occupational therapists, when compared to the control district. Follow-up survey of the 75 patients revealed that both the numbers of reattack cases and severely disabled patients through three years after discharged period were significantly lower in the group of the Model-B-District, when compared to the subjects in the Control-A-District. Even in the Model-B-District, the absolute number of the personal ADL-assistance and maintaining rehabilitation staffs are still insufficient for all the discharged stroke patients who needs to maintain their motor and/or cognitive abilities. The results of this study suggest that a substantial system from a rehabilitation hospital to each locality should be established in all the districts throughout the country for decreasing the number of the severe disabilities in post-stroke patients.