Life Care Planning for Neurological Injuries
Objective: To share results of a research project involving life care plans and long term outcomes after TBI.
Method: Voogt and Roussel conducted a research project to look at long-term outcomes following traumatic brain injury. 105 individuals who had experienced a traumatic brain injury, who were a minimum of two years post-injury and had a life care plan developed for them, were surveyed.
Results: Voogt and Roussel found that prior to their injuries, 54% of the participants had full-time jobs, 9% had part-time jobs, 31% were students, 1% were retired, and 5% were unemployed. After the injury, 55% were unemployed, 18% considered themselves retired, 10% were students, 14% had part-time jobs, and 3% had full-time jobs. Two-thirds of those considering themselves retired were younger than 65.
Conclusion: Support care and/or attendant care have become the single most expensive item in long-term care of individuals with traumatic brain injury. It is the battleground over how much care and what type of care individuals with traumatic brain injury require. There is no wheelchair or other appliance that can replace the missing skills, emotions, and ability to independently guide one’s life. A paraprofessional, providing support care, becomes a prosthetic device for the individual with brain injury. Life care planning has obviously become a critical issue in establishing the long-term care needs and the costs associated with meeting these needs. There are life care plans that focus on restricting costs versus looking at needs. These are not really life care plans; instead, they are cost containment reports. Typically, these so-called life care plans attempt to only meet basic needs for the individual rather than attempt to enhance the quality of life. However, these plans are popular in the current managed health care environment