Early Treatment and the Collaboration of Patients and their Environment are Key for Brain Damage Rehabilitation after an Accident

40% of the success in recovery from brain damage lies in the collaboration of patients and their family environments

Quirónsalud Torrevieja has been named a reference centre for the care of traffic accident victims in the province of Alicante

One of the most severe lesions that derive from traffic accidents is cranial trauma; it can cause cerebral haemorrhages in different areas and, therefore, functional and cognitive alterations in people. The key to success in the treatment of this type of lesion is found in earliness and intensity when submitting to treatment, in addition to having a multidisciplinary team and the collaboration of patients and their family environments, states Mirko Alavena, Neurology specialist and Coordinator of the Quirónsalud Torrevieja Neurorehabilitation Unit.

As Doctor Alavena explains, “experience has shown us that it is important to start treatment as soon as possible, with intensive therapy in which the whole professional team works towards one recovery objective. The collaboration of patients and families also plays an essential role. In our experience, almost half of the success of rehabilitation from acquired brain damage depends on their active participation in the therapy.”

Personalised, Multidisciplinary Treatment

The most effective therapies for brain damage rehabilitation after a traffic accident are based on multidisciplinary work, in other words, a team of several professionals working with a common recovery objective: including a rehabilitation physician, a neurologist, a psychiatrist, neurological physiotherapists, occupational therapists, neuropsychologists, speech therapists and social workers. “Each patient,” explains the neurorehabilitation specialist, “must have an intensive, personalised daily plan, with an average duration of forty-five minutes each, for hospitalised patients as well as outpatients, with the goal of recovering the damaged functions, increase those that are preserved, and adapt to the limitations that may derive from the brain damage.”

This type of therapy lasts a long time, with an average hospital stay of 2 to 3 months, and continues with outpatient rehabilitation. “The important thing is that families know that, when facing a brain damage lesion, there are alternatives for recovering autonomy; we have cases with 100% recovery, and others in which the patients managed to return to their daily lives with significant independence. It is also important to seek out patient associations and hospital centres, such as Quirónsalud Torrevieja, where the patient can find support and counselling with no obligations,” says Doctor Alavena.

Quirónsalud Torrevieja, Reference Centre in Alicante

Healthcare for traumatic brain injuries caused by a traffic accident is not included in the Public Healthcare service catalogue, since there is a third party that is forced to pay for it (the insurance company or the owner of the vehicle to blame for the accident, if he or she is not insured). This circumstance gives people the right to choose the hospital centre and physicians that will treat the accident victim.

Its recent entry into a covenant with UNESPA [Spanish acronym, Association of Spanish Insurance and Reinsurance Institutions] has turned Hospital Quirónsalud de Torrevieja into the only reference centre for insurance companies in the province of Alicante. In addition to dealing with all the administrative paperwork, the centre has one of the most cutting-edge neurorehabilitation Services for the attention of patient with brain damage in the province.