Conference Poster Abstracts

Abstract

Rick Hansen InstituteBackground/objective: Predicting clinical and economic variables that impact upon inpatient rehabilitation length of stay (LOS) is controversial, yet significantly influences resource allocation required for optimal outcomes. Our aim was to identify patient-related factors evident at admission to a spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation unit likely to extend LOS. We sought to describe the impact of relevant demographic, impairment, and medical complexity variables at rehabilitation admission on rehabilitation LOS among adult Canadians with traumatic SCI admitted for inpatient rehabilitation. Methods/Overview: Data were obtained via chart abstraction from Rick Hansen SCI Registry sites. Variables included subject's rehabilitation onset days, LOS, age at injury, sex, International Standards for Neurological Classification for Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) impairment (Neurological Level of Injury (NLI), ASIA Impairment Scale (AIS)), and medical complexity including prior ventilation (VENT), PEG tube (PEG) or indwelling bladder catheter (IBC) at acute discharge, Pain Interference Scale Score (PISS) > 15 and functional ability using ISNCSCI lower extremity motor scores (LEMS) ≤20/50 at rehabilitation admission. For univariate analyses, the dependent variable was LOS, with VENT, PEG, IBC, LEMS, and PISS as independent variables. Multivariate linear regression analyses used log LOS as the dependent variable with AIS, VENT, IBC, and LEMS as independent variables. Results: Adult men and women (n = 827, 82% male), mean (SD) age of 45 (18)