Brain Injury Rehabilitation
The Brain Injury rehabilitation team at Mount Sinai is dedicated to helping patients continue pursuing active, independent lives following a brain injury (BI). Because the brain controls emotion and behavior, injuries to the brain can often affect the patient’s identity, creating changes in personality, emotional regulation, and cognition, in addition to the development of physical challenges. Our team treats the complex effects of a brain injury, such as difficulty walking, communicating, eating and dressing, limitations in memory and thinking skills, as well as social, emotional, and cognitive issues.
At Mount Sinai, our rehabilitation program features personalized treatment plans that incorporates a combination of cognitive, physical, occupational, neuropsychological, and speech therapy. Our comprehensive program begins once patients are medically stable and able to participate in inpatient rehabilitation, and continues in our outpatient department until patients are fully integrated into their homes and communities.
Read more about our outpatient specialized Brain Injury Programs here.
Inpatient Services
At Mount Sinai, we offer comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation to aid recovery and help transition patients from the hospital environment to home. The treatment team includes physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, neuropsychologists, social workers and therapeutic recreation specialists.
During inpatient rehabilitation, patients receive three hours of therapy a day, five days a week to address any functional, cognitive, and behavioral needs. Our team of brain injury experts offer evidence-based treatments, education, and emotional support for patients and their families.
Services and qualities unique to Mount Sinai’s Brain Injury Rehabilitation program include:
- Certified brain injury-specialty nurses and therapists with the expertise in managing issues such as agitation or difficulty communicating
- Constant communication between all professionals to ensure the most specialized and groundbreaking therapies are used for our patients in order to maximize recovery
- Dedicated social workers with expertise in helping individuals with BI transition to the next phase following hospitalization
- Education and support for families, who may be new to a caretaker role
- Hospital-based inpatient rehabilitation, allowing for a higher level of medical supervision than is available in free-standing rehabilitation hospitals
- Integration of cognitive therapy into all therapeutic settings including physical, occupational, and recreational therapy sessions
- Medical and psychological management of arousal and behavioral conditions
- Peer mentors with a brain injury are integrated into the patients rehabilitation team
- Pet therapy with licensed therapy dogs
- Physiatrists with specialty training and board certification in brain injury medicine
Outpatient Services
We offer a variety of outpatient rehabilitation services including neuropsychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work, and speech therapy. Patients may be seen in our department after completing inpatient rehabilitation at Mount Sinai or after being referred to us by another doctor or medical practice as a new patient.
Our comprehensive outpatient program is CARF-accredited, and is run by skilled professionals who have specialized in brain injury for many years. Outpatients also have the opportunity to participate in brain injury research through the Brain Injury Research Center (BIRC) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Why Choose Mount Sinai?
Mount Sinai is proud to be a national leader in the field of brain injury rehabilitation. Our excellence in clinical care and research is reflected in our designation as a Model System for Brain Injury since 2007, one of only 16 such programs that exist nationwide.
We are also CARF-accredited as a specialty Center for Brain Injury, and the quality of our nursing care has been recognized with the prestigious Magnet award.
In addition, the exceptional clinical and research programs we offer span the continuum of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation and are available to individuals following any type of brain injury including traumatic brain injury (TBI).