Role of Physiotherapy in Ugandan Neurosurgical Transitional Care (2023-2024)

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) due to road traffic accidents are a leading cause of hospital admission in Uganda. Rehabilitation services that begin in the hospital may continue for months and even years after hospital discharge.

Multidisciplinary care coordination for continued rehabilitation referrals plays a strong role in ensuring that patients with rehabilitation needs stay connected along the continuum of care. Previous studies by this team have identified a need to support increased rehabilitation participation in early discharge planning as a facilitator to these referrals. Thus, this team has used past findings and consultation with local experts to develop a proposed discharge planning tool.

The aim of this research team is to pilot an interdisciplinary discharge planning tool intervention for TBI patients at a national and regional hospital to establish acceptability and feasibility relative to standard care.

To achieve this goal, team members have developed strategies for educating providers on use of the tool. Then, after a period of tool use, this team will conduct interviews to qualitatively assess provider feedback on acceptability and feasibility. The team will also complete a data quality assessment to further review implementation success.

Initially, the team focused on integration of physiotherapy (PT) services as PT represents one of the most widely available rehabilitation services compared to others. The findings of this team’s work will inform the continued development and expansion of the tool to include other rehabilitation services such as occupational therapy, speech therapy and neuropsychology.

Timing

Fall 2023 – Summer 2024

Team Outputs

Interdisciplinary discharge planning tool for TBI patients

Development of virtual educational methodology for large-scale cross-cultural teaching

Acceptability and Feasibility of a Discharge Planning Tool in Ugandan Neurosurgical Transitional Care (Poster presented at Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, April 17, 2024)

This Team in the News

Duke Names Fourth Class of Nakayama Scholars

Meet the Winners of the 2024 Bass Connections Student Research Awards

Image: Uganda-006-RH, by BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Team Leaders

Kira Bullock, School of Medicine: Neurosurgery
Anthony Fuller, School of Medicine: Neurosurgery
Damascene Niyonsenga, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)

Undergraduate Team Members

Amy Fulton, Neuroscience (BS)
Jasmine Innis, Psychology (BS)
Taranjit Saggu, Neuroscience (BS)

Community Team Members

Wilfred Arubaku, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)
Richard Kasiita, Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH)
Herman Kazibwe, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)

Community Organizations

Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)
Mulago National Referral Hospital

Team Contributors

Jeffrey Hoder, School of Medicine: Family Medicine and Community Health: Doctor of Physical Therapy
Kearsley Stewart, Duke Global Health Institute