The 2006 ASIA Impairment Scale (AIS) Assessment Record & Neurological Classification Tool: This document represents the international standard for recording, classifying and comparing the results of the neurophysiological examination of patients with actual or suspected spinal cord injuries. Download from the 'Education' section of the website of the American Spinal Injuries Association (ASIA). This section also contains illustrated guides for conducting neuromuscular and sensory examination of patients with actual or suspected SCI.
Moving Forward after SCI (2009): The fourth edition of the Spinal Injuries Association's indispensable guide has been updated and repackaged as a series of 18 individual booklets covering all aspects of life after SCI. Purchase from the on-line shop on the SIA website.
Continuing Health Care Information Pack (2010): This revised version of the SIA Academy Information Pack has been re-written to help SCI people and healthcare professionals to secure an appropriate NHS Continuing Healthcare funded care package. It includes references to those essential facts about living with SCI that are often poorly represented and understood by non-specialist personnel involved in the decision-making process.
The MASCIP Committee and the SIA Academy have approved the following endorsement of the SIA campaign to secure the most appropriately informed continuing care packages for people living with tetraplegia:
"Spinal Cord Injury resulting in tetraplegia is a complex condition that involves virtually all body systems and has complications which are unpredictable and potentially life- threatening in nature. Managing the condition and preventing these complications requires a dedicated care routine which includes (at least) hourly daytime interventions and unpredictable additional care over the 24 hour continuum. Accommodations are made for lifestyle and for state of health/wellbeing. Potential complications include autonomic dysreflexia, poikilothermia, chest infections and pressure ulcers. These complications can arise unpredictably and may require immediate life saving assistance / management within minutes. Optimal management regimens can minimise the risk of complications and prevent avoidable hospital admissions, but they may still occur and require immediate intervention."
FEATURED ARTICLE:
C-spine Fractures Following Falls in Older People: The importance of history taking and clinical suspicion
A case presentation from trauma.org