Services > Programs > Pediatric Brain Injury Neurocontinuum
Nexus Childrens Hospital

Pediatric Brain Injury Neurocontinuum

Nexus Children’s Hospital offers a distinct subspecialty program for any patient — newborn to age 21 — who has experienced an injury to the central nervous system (CNS) including traumatic or acquired brain injury. As children progress through the stages of brain injury recovery, they may require a broad range of specialized services to meet their individual physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral needs. As a result, many children will receive a combination of neurobehavioral and neurorehabilitation services provided in each of the following inpatient programs:

  • Brain Injury Responsiveness
  • Brain Injury Rehabilitation
  • Home, School, and Community Re-Entry

Our program is designed for any patient who has experienced an injury to the central nervous system (CNS) including*:

Traumatic Brain Injury

  • Falls
  • Motor vehicle/ATV accidents
  • Gunshot wounds/ penetration wounds
  • Non-accidental head trauma

Acquired Brain Injury

  • Cardiac arrest
  • Stroke
  • Neoplasms/brain tumor
  • Encephalitis
  • Meningitis
  • Drug overdose/ poisoning
  • Drowning/asphyxia
  • Prematurity
  • Epilepsy

Although our programs can provide an acute inpatient rehabilitation level of care (15 hours/week), patients do not have to be ready to participate in three hours of therapy a day at the time of their admission to qualify for programming.

Brain Injury Continuum of Care Programming Features*

  • Neuropsychological services
  • Respiratory therapy, tracheostomy care, and ventilator management
  • Medication and respiratory need optimization
  • Secondary complications prevention
  • Assistive technology for communication
  • Spasticity management
  • Discharge and long-term needs planning (for school and home)
  • Education, training, and support for families and caregivers
PEDIATRIC BRAIN INJURY NEUROCONTINUUM
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  •    Brain Injury Responsiveness Program

    Designed for children and adolescents who continue to exhibit altered arousal and/or limited ability to interact with their environment and are not yet or inconsistently following commands (Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome/ Minimally Conscious State).

    • Determine the level of consciousness and monitor using evidence-based measures
    • Evaluate for barriers to recovery of consciousness
    • Normalize sleep wake cycle
    • Improve alertness during the day
    • Initiate sensory stimulation treatments
    • Initiate a medically appropriate rehabilitation program
  •    Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program

    Designed for recovery from acute confusion and/or post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) and beyond.

    • Provide orienting information to promote increased environmental awareness
    • Creation of a “Memory Log”
    • Management of behavioral agitation
    • Intensive multidisciplinary rehabilitation
  •    Home, School, & Community Re-Entry Program

    Designed to support children and their families as they navigate the transition from hospital back into their home, school, and community environments.

    • Neuropsychological evaluation during admission
    • Enrollment in home-bound educational services while hospitalized (when appropriate)
    • Work with families and schools to develop an individualized plan for academic re-entry
    • Provide families with information about special education supports through school
    • Support family in identifying and scheduling relevant follow-up and outpatient appointments
    • Coordination with insurance to obtain necessary discharge prescriptions and home equipment

2016 Outcome Data for Our Brain Injury Rehabilitation Continuum of Care

Functional Recovery as Assessed by the WeeFIM-II

Sample characteristics for the WeeFIM-II analyses presented below:

  • Only children with severe non-penetrating traumatic brain injury (Glasgow Como Scale [GCS] score between 3 and 8) were included in the analysis below (n=18).
  • Ages ranged from 7 to 19 years
  • 66.6% male
fig 1. Wee-FIM-II Mobility fig 1. Wee-FIM-II Mobility
fig 2. WeeFIM-II Cognition fig 2. WeeFIM-II Cognition
fig 3. WeeFIM-II Self-Care fig 3. WeeFIM-II Self-Care

Figures 1 – 3: Change in WeeFIM Ratings from Admission to Discharge as assessed by Wilcoxon. Signed Ranks Test for dependent, non-normally distributed, ordinal data. *p > .01.

Journey Toward Independence

Nexus' NeuroContinuum sequence provides a range of care for those recovering from acquired or traumatic brain injuries and other complicated illnesses or diseases.
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Reap the Benefits of Comprehensive Care

Contact our Admissions Department for more information and to begin the recovery process today.

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