Disorders of Consciousness: What Interprofessional Teams
Need to Know (Recorded Webinar)
Presented by Kristen Keech and Jessica Asiello
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Nonfinancial: Kristen Keech has no competing nonfinancial interests or relationships with regard to the content presented in this course.
Financial: Jessica Asiello receives compensation from MedBridge for the production of this course. She’s also an employee for MGH Institute of Health Professions and Massachusetts General Hospital, an advisor for ScribePT, and a contractor for the American Occupational Therapy Association. She has no other relevant financial relationships.
Nonfinancial: Jessica Asiello is an associate reviewer for theJournal of Acute Care Occupational Therapy.
Physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and nurses play a pivotal role in the recovery and treatment of individuals with disorders of consciousness (DoC). Join us for this dynamic webinar, which will introduce current evidence and provide practitioners with an overview of neurological injury resulting in DoC. During this webinar, we will highlight the stages and prevalence/incidence of DoC and provide an overview of the 2018 Clinical Practice Guidelines for DoC developed by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN); the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM); and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). We will also discuss medical ethics related to DoC, including statistics on misdiagnosis and ethical implications as well as critical considerations within the first week of a DoC diagnosis that practitioners can directly apply to their current practice. The webinar will conclude with information on upcoming resources focused on translating evidence to clinical assessment and treatment of this complex, marginalized population.
Meet your instructors
Kristen Keech
Kristen Keech is an occupational therapist working in the acute care setting at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. She evaluates, treats, and advocates for individuals hospitalized for various medical and traumatic-related injuries, alongside the interprofessional team, beginning in the intensive care…
Jessica Asiello
Jessica Asiello is an assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the MGH Institute for Health Professions in Boston, Massachusetts. She primarily teaches in the online postprofessional OTD program. Her clinical practice is in acute care at…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. Why Are We Here?
This chapter emphasizes the immediate need to close the implementation gap between evidence and practice. We will share startling statistics that highlight the need to increase interprofessional knowledge to enhance care and bring attention to the marginalized DoC population.
2. Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) Basics
This chapter will include a basic overview of neurological anatomy and physiology and discuss injuries that can result in DoC. We will define the stages of DoC, share the prevalence and incidence, and identify medical and behavioral confounders.
3. AAN/ACRM/NIDILRR Practice Guidelines
In this chapter, we will provide an overview of the 2018 AAN/ACRM/NIDILRR Clinical Practice Guidelines for DoC—an essential resource. We will also discuss how aspects of the DoC practice guidelines can be directly and immediately applied to practitioner’s current practice setting.
4. Medicoethics in DoC Care
In this chapter, we will discuss medical ethics and dive into translating the interaction between misdiagnosis and ethical implications.
5. What’s Next?
In this chapter, we will empower practitioners in a call to action by summarizing the available evidence and the need for practitioners to apply evidence to practice for improved comprehensive care for the DoC population. The course concludes with information regarding additional resources that explore evidence-based evaluation and treatment recommendations practitioners can immediately implement in their practice settings.
6. Question and Answer Session
In this chapter, we will discuss and answer the questions participants asked during the webinar.