Requard Center for Acute Rehabilitation

Comprehensive Medical Rehabilitation: Redefining Hope and Independence

The Requard Center for Acute Rehabilitation is a 20-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital unit that admits patients ages 18 and older who have a medical need for comprehensive medical rehabilitation in a hospital setting. The Center is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) for its overall inpatient rehabilitation program and for its specialized Stroke Rehabilitation program. The Requard Center is accredited by the Joint Commission and its nurses are "Magnet" recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).

The following criteria are required for admission:

• Medical necessity for Hospitalization
• Medical necessity for daily Rehabilitation Physician care
• Medical necessity for Rehabilitation Nursing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Medical necessity for an intensive interdisciplinary rehabilitation program with the expectation to experience regular significant improvement

Patients demonstrate impairments from many health conditions including stroke, neurological conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and Guillain-Barre, post-surgical orthopedic and neurological conditions, amputations, hip fracture, cardio-pulmonary dysfunction, cancer and other conditions.

Ability to Stay Close to Home

The Requard Center is the first and only comprehensive acute rehabilitation center of its kind for the Upper and Mid-Shore region. Centrally located at the Memorial Hospital at Easton, its rehabilitation programs are available close to home. Patients recovering from injury, surgery, or illnesses such as a stroke receive the best medical care while staying in daily contact with their network of family and friends.

Acute Rehabilitation: Comprehensive Care for Patients and Families

Acute rehabilitation is a comprehensive program of coordinated, integrated, interdisciplinary, services provided by or under the direction of physicians qualified and experienced in rehabilitation. Andrew McCarthy, MD, is the medical director of Shore Rehabilitation Services and of the Requard Center for Acute Rehabilitation. A board certified neurologist and skilled rehabilitation specialist, Dr. McCarthy is recognized as a pioneer in the field of rehabilitation medicine.

The Requard Center program provides hospital level care 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a core team of healthcare professionals, including rehabilitation nursing, physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), speech/language therapy (SLP), case management and outcomes management. Services include daily physician care, 6-7 hours of daily nursing care and three hours of intense interdisciplinary therapy (provided at least six days a week). Other hospital services include respiratory therapy, pharmacy, nutrition, psychology, radiology, laboratory as well as access to orthotics and prosthetics.

Hope and Confidence

The core themes of acute rehabilitation are hope, confidence and self reliance. An experienced and specially trained multidisciplinary team treats the whole person and helps each individual rise to the occasion following a health crisis with an emphasis on education and training.

At the Requard Center, the clinical team works with the patient and family to develop a plan that takes the long view of recovery. During the hospital stay, individuals and their family members practice and prepare for a return to independent living. The team holds daily interdisciplinary conferences focused on outcomes and discharge. Following discharge from the Requard Center, the team maintains contact with the patient to continue to assess progress and offer assistance.

Specialized rehabilitation equipment and facilities

The Requard Center consists of:

• A specialized rehabilitation gym
• an ADL (activities of daily living) apartment complete with refrigerator, stove, sink, and laundry connected to a private room to help individuals regain confidence for independent living
• A multi-purpose education and training center has uniquely designed circular tables that adjust to various heights for dining and other activities and lift to the ceiling to create additional floor space
• Large private and semi-private patient rooms are designed to facilitate independence and socialization.

Measuring Progress

The Requard Center team uses the functional independence measuring (FIM) system to evaluate patient progress. FIM is the nationally recognized and accepted system used to evaluate patient outcomes and facilitate communication across the rehabilitation team. By using FIM, the Requard Center has the ability to compare its patient outcomes with those of over 400,000 other acute rehabilitation patients each year.

All patients are contacted by phone at 3 months after discharge to confirm that discharge arrangements and plans met expectations and that progress has been maintained or further improved upon. 3 month outcomes are again compared to a national database.

Discharged patients are surveyed regarding their satisfaction with the care, the facilities and manner in which they were treated during their stay on the unit.

All quality outcomes regarding health and safety, clinical care and outcomes and satisfaction are reviewed monthly in order to help identify areas that can be improved on.

For more information about The Requard Center for Acute Rehabilitation, call 410-822-1000, ext. 5873 or 5845. Or call toll free at 866-414-2067.