Poster 72

E24 who made gains had a shorter length of time from onset to rehabilitation admission. Patients who made gains were more likely to be discharged to home. Key Words: Rehabilitation; Treatment outcome; Brain injuries. Poster 71 Stroke Rehabilitation: Does Dysphagia Make a Difference for Outcomes? Noel Rao (Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital, Wheaton, IL), Susan Brady, Gouri Chaudhuri, Kathleen Ruroede, Rachel Caldwell. Disclosure: None declared. Objective: To investigate the effects dysphagia may have on outcome measures during inpatient rehabilitation for stroke patients. Design: Retrospective chart reviews were completed for all patients who were admitted to the rehabilitation hospital over 24 months, as identified by predetermined impairment codes. Setting: Rehabilitation hospital. Participants: Consecutive stroke admissions over 24 months. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure: FIM instrument gain, length of stay (LOS), cost of care, and discharge destination. Results: A total of 4551 patients were admitted over 24 months. Stroke admissions represented 19.93% (908/4551). Stroke admissions were divided into 2 groups: group 1 (n⫽527; 58%), patients with dysphagia; and group 2 (n⫽380, 42%), patients with no dysphagia. Average admission FIM score for the dysphagia group was 32.34, and for the nondysphagia group it was 48.38 (P⫽.001). Average FIM gain per day was 0.73 for the dysphagia group and 1.21 for the nondysphagia group (P⫽.003). LOS for the dysphagia group averaged 22.08 days and for the nondysphagia group 16.18 days (P⬍.001). Actual cost of care averaged $23,013 for the dysphagia group and $17,906 for the nondysphagia group (P⬍.001). Discharge destination for the dysphagia group was 48.67% to home, 17.23% to acute care, 31.44% to subacute, and 2.65% to other, and for the nondysphagia group it was 69.1% to home, 13.19% to acute care, 15.3% to subacute, and 2.37% to other. A 4⫻2 chi-square analysis revealed that the differences in discharge destination between the dysphagia and nondysphagia groups were statistically significant (␹2 test⫽42.251, P⫽.001). Conclusions: The additional complication of dysphagia in stroke patients significantly impacted FIM gain, LOS, cost of care, and discharge destination. Key Words: Rehabilitation; Dysphagia; Cardiac. Poster 72 Factors Predicting Healing of Severe Pressure Ulcers in Veterans With Spinal Cord Injury. Marylou Guihan (Edward Hines Jr Veterans Affairs, Hines, IL), Susan Garber, Amy Aftandilian, Stephen Burns, Barry Goldstein, Sally Ann Holmes, Meena Midha, Paul Sanford, Rose Trincher. Disclosure: None declared. Objective: To describe demographic, clinical, and medical factors promoting healing of pressure ulcers prior to discharge. Design: Cross-sectional observational study using in-person interviews and medical records. Setting: Veterans admitted to 6 Veterans Affairs spinal cord injury (SCI) centers. Participants: 100 veterans with SCI. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure: Healed ulcer at discharge. Results: Participants’ mean age was 54.8 (range, 25– 84); most were white, with some college education. Most live in their own home; and 81% are unemployed. Mean time since SCI was 22.3 (range, 1–54) years, 25% had tetraplegia, and 72% were classified with American Spinal Injury Association grade A. 42% have ⬎1 pressure ulcer; and 47% had a previous pressure ulcer in the same location. Anemia, urinary Arch Phys Med Rehabil Vol 86, October 2005

tract infection, osteomyelitis, diabetes, and depression were the most common comorbidities. Other factors included type of treatment (surgery vs medical treatment), length of hospitalization, and sitting time prior to discharge. Conclusions: Results will be used to inform practice and to develop better prevention programs in the future. Key Words: Pressure ulcers; Spinal cord injuries; Rehabilitation. Poster 73 Evaluating the Impact of a Peer Mentoring Program for Individuals With Traumatic Brain Injury and Their Families. Mary Hibbard (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY), Joshua Cantor. Disclosure: None declared. Objective: To evaluate the impact of a peer mentoring program for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their families. Design: Quasi-experimental. Setting: Community-based program. Participants: 64 individuals with TBI and 30 family members who received the intervention (partners) and a comparison group of 30 individuals with TBI and 10 family members who received no intervention (controls). Intervention: A peer-mentoring partnership program for people with TBI and their families. Main Outcome Measures: Beck Depression Inventory–II, Beck Anxiety Inventory, coping and empowerment measures, and a brief interview developed to assess program impact. Results: After program participation, the partner group showed statistically significant improvements in depression (P⬍.05), empowerment (P⬍.05), life satisfaction (P⬍.05), coping (P⬍.05), and communication with health care professionals (P⬍.01). The controls exhibited no significant changes. There was a significant group by time interaction for depression (P⫽.042), empowerment (P⫽.007), life satisfaction (P⫽.032), coping (P⫽.018), and communication with health care professionals (P⫽.001). Thus, the partners’ functioning improved between assessments and the controls’ functioning did not. Regression to the mean did not appear to account for the improvements seen in the partner group. Conclusions: The program seems to have been associated with significant improvements in partner functioning in multiple key areas as compared with controls. Key Words: Brain injuries; Rehabilitation; Mentoring. Poster 74 Relationship of Anemia on Inpatient Rehabilitation Outcomes. Ameen Waheed (Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, IL), Marvin Delgado, Mukesh Ahuja, Parag Agnihotri. Disclosure: None declared. Objective: To assess the impact of anemia as a comorbidity on discharge functional outcomes among inpatient rehabilitation participant. Design: Sequential chart review. Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation patients from January 2004 top August 2004. Participants: Consecutive sample of charts were selected for review of all patients admitted to the inpatient acute rehabilitation unit with various impairments like stroke, orthopedic disorders, debility, amputation, and other neurologic disorders. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Admission impairments, discharge hemoglobin (Hgb), demographics, and FIM instrument were collected. The FIM includes admission and discharge scores for self-care, locomotion, and cognition. Anemia was defined as a discharge Hgb ⬍11.5g/dL. Improvements in FIM scores from admission to discharge of anemic and nonanemic patients were compared. Results: Of 481 charts, 5% were excluded from the analysis because of incomplete data. Average age was 72 years, the sex and age distributions remained similar for both groups. Mean lengths of