A New Era Dawns for Trauma Rehabilitation

From 13^th -15^th October, trauma experts from all over the world gathered at Gatwick to develop a framework for measuring the effectiveness of trauma rehabilitation interventions.

The ICF consensus conference was organized by AfterTrauma founder Dr Karen Hoffman, with support from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

“The consensus conference was the final step in the development of an International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Set for Traumatic Injuries. 

The ICF will enable clinicians and researchers to compare the rehabilitation needs and outcomes of trauma patients nationally and internationally.  The Trauma Core Set will be a framework for assessment of items important to patients and a structure for rehabilitation interventions.   

Delegates to the ICF Trauma Rehabilitation consensus conference - October 2016

A 31 strong dedicated team of delegates from all continents, and from many different disciplines (eg surgery, physiotherapy, psychology etc) as well as patient and carer representatives worked hard to produce the framework. We produced a core set of 20 items in the end, scaled down from hundreds of ICF categories.  

It was an amazing experience. Once the set is officially endorsed by the World Health Organisation, it should help improve standards of trauma rehabilitation care because for the first time we will have a standard way of comparing patient outcomes internationally.”

For more information, please contact Dr Hoffman.

Published 18th October 2016

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