Medical staff's perception of factors contributing to accelerated rehabilitation in patients with cervical spinal cord injury: A qualitative research

Abstract

Aim

To explore the factors affecting the quality of accelerated rehabilitation for patients with cervical spinal cord injury, therefore, to propose targeted improvement strategies and provide reference for promoting the quality of nursing care for accelerated rehabilitation.

Design

This descriptive qualitative inquiry followed the COREQ guidelines.

Methods

From December 2020 to April 2021, 16 subjects including orthopaedic nurses, nursing management experts, orthopaedic surgeons, anaesthesiologists and physical therapists experienced in accelerated rehabilitation were selected by objective sampling method to conduct semi‐structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview content.

Results

Through analysis and summary of the interview data, the following two themes and nine sub‐themes were finally extracted. Factors related to the quality of accelerated rehabilitation structure include: construction of multidisciplinary teams, thorough system guarantee and adequate staffing. Factors related to the quality of accelerated rehabilitation process include: inadequate training and assessment, lack of medical staff's awareness, incapability of the accelerated rehabilitation team members, poor multidisciplinary communication and collaboration, lack of patient's awareness, and ineffective health education.

Conclusion

Quality of implementation of accelerated rehabilitation can be improved by maximizing the role of multidisciplinary team, establishing a flawless accelerated rehabilitation system, increasing allocation of nursing resources, enhancing knowledge of medical staff, improving their awareness of accelerated rehabilitation, establishing personalized clinical pathways of accelerated rehabilitation, increasing communication and collaboration among multidisciplinary disciplines, and improving health education of patients.