Use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in patients with traumatic brain injury

INTRODUCTION: Many tools exist for assessing the functioning of a patient with traumatic brain injury. Possible benefits of the ICF in TBI rehabilitation are currently under discussion. GOAL: The study explored to what extend the ICF is useful to organize existing clinical information and to retrospectively evaluate the effect of interventions in patients with TBI. METHOD: A retrospective patient record study was conducted. Medical records of 100 patients admitted to the Slovenian University Rehabilitation Institute from 2007-2009 were linked to the ICF. RESULTS: The majority of the functional problems at the level of body functions corresponded to mental and movement-related functions. Within the list of activities and participation, the patients experienced more difficulties in tasks that require intellectual effort, communicational ability, mobility and self-care. The ICF detected substantial improvement after rehabilitation regarding body functions and activities related to mobility and self-care and little improvement regarding mental functions and related activities. Some important environmental factors were also identified. CONCLUSIONS: The translation of the information about functioning into the ICF format provided a well-structured functional profile of the selected group of patients in a language-independent format. ICF also clearly outlined the environmental factors important for the recovery and functioning.