St. Joseph’s a key partner in enhancing care for spinal cord injury patients across Canada  

An estimated 85,556 Canadians live with spinal cord injury (SCI), a number that the Praxis Institute for SCI predicts to rise to 121,000 by 2030. More than half of those SCI’s are caused by traumatic injuries. 

“Many of our patients have had their lives drastically changed, in an instant,” says Dr. Ali Bateman, a physiatrist at St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s (St. Joseph’s) Parkwood Institute. “A spinal cord injury (SCI) affects the whole person and every aspect of their life. As we help our patients recover from SCI, our rehabilitation team focuses not only on the physical aspects of care, but mental and spiritual sides as well. One of the most meaningful parts of the work we’re doing together with the SCI Consortium is improving all aspects of the care we deliver here at Parkwood Institute and collaborating to ensure all Canadians with SCI have access to standardized, whole person care.”

eleven members of the spinal cord injury care team reaching their hands together in a show of cooperation
Members of St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s Rehabilitation Program team celebrate the success of the SCI Consortium to create and implement best practices in SCI rehabilitation and treatment for patients across Canada. 


The SCI Consortium is a unique partnership project to create and implement best practice care for patients across Canada. “For years there have been pockets of expertise at various organizations in SCI treatment and rehabilitation,” says Andrea Lee, Director of St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation Program. “Together with partner organizations from coast-to-coast, we’ve established a first-ever network to implement best practices and collect indicators of quality care that will lead to better outcomes for all SCI patients.”

The SCI Consortium network was launched in Ontario in January, 2019 and includes participating sites at St. Joseph’s, University Health Network (Toronto Rehab), Providence Care Hospital, The Ottawa Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, Praxis Spinal Cord Institute and rehabilitation hospitals from Alberta, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.

Standardizing SCI Care in Canada

Part of the work of the SCI Consortium has been to establish and implement best practices within specific areas of rehabilitation and treatment.  

Emotional Well-Being – Goal: to improve screening and management of depression and anxiety, to maximize rehabilitation outcomes.
Highlighted achievements: 

  • 100 per cent screening of patients 
  • Creation of education materials and resources
  • Establishment of virtual fitness and support groups

Sexual Health – Goal: to create a permissive environment for clinicians and patients to have open discussions around sexual health inquiry.
Highlighted achievements:

  • Implementation of e-learning modules for staff with 96 per cent completion rate
  • Implementation of monthly education group for patients
  • Scaling of sexual health practice to other programs (Stroke, ABI)

Tissue Integrity – Goal: to reduce incidence and severity of pressure injuries (from wheelchairs and beds) across a person’s lifespan.
Highlighted achievements:

  • Improved documentation of skin checks – 69 per cent of patients were completing daily skin checks 80 per cent of the time or more.
  • Video education available for patient/caregiver reference
  • Selfie sticks are available in addition to mirrors

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) – Goal: to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions for urinary tract infections.
Highlighted achievements:

  • Regular feedback informed revisions and additional staff training
  • Developed process to monitor and track prescription of antibiotics and determine links to diagnoses and treatment strategies
  • Developed patient education resource

Walking – Goal: to ensure those who have the potential to walk are getting the intensity of therapy needed to maximize the recovery of walking.
Highlighted achievements:

  • Standardized assessments at admission and discharge
  • Tracking of activities on therapy flowsheet
  • SWAT Training
  • More regular training and coaching sessions on walking modalities

Wheeled Mobility – Goal: to maximize community wheelchair skills through standard mobility assessments.
Highlighted achievements:

  • Developed a wheelchair education course for staff training
  • Created patient handout
  • Instituted mandatory biweekly education group for all patients
  • Increased staff self-efficacy in provision of wheelchair safety and skills training

Celebrating Success

Organizations in the SCI Consortium network celebrated the shared achievements in improved patient care on July 20 with a joint virtual event and local presentations. “Were very proud of our team,” adds Andrea. “Members from every health discipline and even care partners have been involved in the quality improvement initiatives of the SCI Consortium and it’s been a group effort to achieve the goals of this monumental project. We are very pleased with the outcome and development of new best practices that will enhance care for patients across our region and country.”  

Learn more about the Spinal Cord Injury Implementation & Evaluation Quality Care Consortium. 
 

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