Who is treated in the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program at Kennedy Krieger?
During fiscal year 2019*, 52 patients were treated in the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program at Kennedy Krieger.
Below is the age breakdown of those patients:
Diagnoses Treated
The Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program treats children and adolescents who, collectively, have a variety of diagnoses.
Below is a breakdown of the most common diagnoses treated by the program:
Types of Patients Treated
Patients who are admitted to the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program have limitations in at least one of the following areas: moving around, performing daily self-care activities, engaging in activities of daily living (doing chores, eating), and participating in home, school and community activities.
- Patients who are admitted to the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program must be medically stable and able to participate in at least three hours of therapy per day.
- Patients with tracheostomies and those requiring mechanical ventilation or diaphragm pacing systems are welcome on the inpatient unit.
Interdisciplinary Treatment Team
Patients with brain injury may have complex needs. An experienced interdisciplinary treatment team works with every patient and his or her family.
This inpatient team may include:
- Child life therapists
- Developmental pediatricians
- Hospitalists
- Nurse case managers
- Nurse practitioners
- Nurse technicians
- Nurses
- Occupational therapists
- Orthopedists
- Pediatricians
- Physiatrists
- Physical therapists
- Pediatric nutritionists
- Registered nurses
- Seating and mobility specialists
- Social workers
- Special educators
- Speech/language pathologists
- Therapeutic recreational therapists
Where do patients live who are seen by the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program ?
In Fiscal Year 2019, 80 percent of patients in the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program come from Maryland and the remainder coming from Washington, DC, Virginia, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
How much therapy do patients receive while being treated in the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program ?
Patients being treated in the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program have at least three hours of therapy daily.
What happens if a patient gets acutely sick or has a medical emergency while an inpatient at Kennedy Krieger?
Kennedy Krieger has Advanced Life Support-certified medical staff members and nurses on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the equipment and processes in place to respond to medical emergencies. Due to our proximity to and affiliation with The Johns Hopkins Hospital, we are able to admit patients with intensive, but stable medical needs, such as those requiring a ventilator for breathing.
Occasionally, these more intensive medical needs require unplanned transfers to acute care. However, no patients had medical emergencies requiring transfer to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2018 or 2019.
How are patients and their families involved in the care they receive from the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program ?
No one knows a patient better than his or her family. Kennedy Krieger providers are committed to incorporating family-centered care. The best way to care for a patient is to include his or her family in the patient’s healthcare team. Family members are encouraged to participate in treatment planning, goal setting, family meetings, and education and training sessions.
How long do most inpatients receive treatment from the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program ?
Not everyone receives treatment for the same amount of time. In fiscal year 2019*, the average length of stay for patients in the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program was 22 days. These lengths of stays are better than the length of stays at other similar pediatric rehabilitation hospitals nationwide.
What kinds of improvements might patients receiving treatment from the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program be expected to make?
Kennedy Krieger Institute uses The Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM) for standardized pediatric outcomes measurement. This system is used by pediatric inpatient, outpatient, and community-based rehab programs worldwide and provides a simple, consistent, uniform tool that measures function in children.
During fiscal year 2019*:
- 89 percent of patients reached or exceeded their WeeFIM goals during their inpatient stay.
- Collectively, our patients had significant gains on all WeeFIM measurements from admission to discharge.
- 100 percent of our patients in the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program were discharged home.
What do patients and their families say about their experience at the Post-Orthopedic Surgery Rehabilitation Program ?
During fiscal year 2019:
- 97 percent of patients felt the management of their child's pain was good or excellent.
- 91 percent of patients felt the overall services provided were good or excellent.
- 94 percent of patients agreed they were involved in decisions about their child's care.
- 95 percent of parents felt their cultural or personal values were respected and accommodated.
- 95 percent of parents felt the doctor's and nurse's communication was good or excellent.
- 97 percent of parents felt the care provided by doctors and nurses was good or excellent.
- 97 percent of parents said the availability of doctors and nurses was good or excellent.
Does Kennedy Krieger have special accreditation?
Kennedy Krieger Institute is accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and The Joint Commission. Every three years, both organizations review the Institute to ensure all its programs meet or exceed the very high standards it sets for the care of its patients.
*Fiscal year 2019 is the time frame from July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019.