SPECIAL SYMPOSIUM

#302293 – Stroke Rehabilitation at a Crossroads

THU 26 OCT // 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM

 

PRESENTER

Robert Teasell, MD, FRCP
Professor and Director of Research, Medical Director of Stroke Rehabilitation, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University

 

FOCUS AREAS

Stroke, Clinical Practice

 

DESCRIPTION

Stroke rehabilitation has long been the leader in neurorehabilitation with an extensive research evidence foundation and development of organized stroke rehabilitation care. Stroke rehabilitation is being increasingly driven by a number of challenges which reflect challenges to the healthcare system in general. Greater attention is being paid to the key drivers of neuroplasticity; early admission to rehabilitation, therapy intensity, talk-specific therapy and stroke specialized interdisciplinary teams. Research into clinical interventions is shifting, ever so slowly, to larger multicentered RCTs; meta-analysis are increasingly available to inform practice. The focus of this symposium will be on identification of the challenges in stroke rehabilitation research and the application to practice as well as defining the future of stroke rehabilitation.

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Identify challenges in stroke rehabilitation research
2. Formulate future directions for stroke rehabilitation
3. Identify the application of research to clinical practice

 

ABOUT DR TEASELL

Robert Teasell is Professor, Research Director and Past Chair-Chief of the Department of PM&R at Western University and Medical Director of the Stroke Rehabilitation Program at Parkwood Institute in London, ON. He also has an active outpatient chronic pain practice. Dr. Teasell is a past chair of the Research Committee of the Canadian Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, a past member of the Ontario and Canadian Stroke Strategy Executive Committee, and a past examiner for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation and the Journal of Pain Research and Management. Dr. Teasell has authored 317 peer reviewed articles, 23 book chapters, 60 monographs, 296 published abstracts and 648 international and national presentations/posters. He has been involved in over $17 million of grant funding, with $8 million as the primary investigator. Dr. Teasell’s research interests center largely around implementation of best evidence into clinical practice in neurorehabilitation including development of best practice guidelines. He is the primary editor of the Stroke Rehabilitation Evidence-Based Review (www.ebrsr.com), now in its 17^th edition (2016), the Acquired (Traumatic) Brain Injury Evidence-Based Review (www.abiebr.com), now in its 11^th edition and the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Evidence-Based Review (www.scireproject.com), now in its 6^th edition. Other research interests include the rehabilitation of severe and chronic strokes, and the role of personality and affective responses in chronic pain disability.

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Attendees who wish to dive deeper into this topic are encouraged to also attend a second lecture led by Dr. Teasell, described below.

 

#302294 – Hot Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation

THU 26 OCT // 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM

 

PRESENTER

Robert Teasell, MD, FRCP
Professor and Director of Research, Medical Director of Stroke Rehabilitation, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University

 

FOCUS AREAS

Stroke

 

DESCRIPTION

The evidence for stroke rehabilitation is impressive when compared with other rehab diagnostic entities, with close to 2,000 RCTs. Although the quality of RCTs has been steadily improving over time the number of subjects per RCT remains unchanged and studies with a small number of subjects is still very common. Recovery from stroke is complex and recovery trajectories depend on a number of factors, the most important being stroke severity although it is also influenced by the time to onset of rehabilitation, therapy intensity and specialized stroke rehabilitation units. Focus will be the identification of how stroke rehabilitation evidence can be used to maximize stroke rehabilitation outcomes.

 

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