Centre for Rehabilitation Research & Development
Post-Concussion Research
In October 2013 a Post-Concussion Research-Based Clinic was established at The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre (TOHRC). This clinic fills a previously existing gap in service to patients in the Champlain LHIN region. It also serves as the basis for ongoing promotion of post-concussion and persisting symptom awareness within The Ottawa Hospital and regionally.
The Clinic has a core research team of clinicians who represent disciplines and specialties most relevant to diagnosing and treating concussion and persisting symptoms including physiatry, psychology, neuropsychology and radiology. The clinic has a questionnaire package designed to gather the most relevant clinical information and enhance the consultation process. It also utilizes a unique electronic mailout process for the questionnaire package so that patients can fill the questionnaires out prior to arrival and ensure an optimal experience in the consultation appointment. Patients are able to choose to have their questionnaire data entered into a database, from which anonymized data can be used for future research questions, program evaluation and applications of evidence based medicine. The clinic is also engaged in co-leading a Concussion Care Strategy for Ontario which is a collaborative effort with St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, to establish a provincial dataset of elements for a post-concussion research database.
Current projects:
- A pilot project using technology and neuropsychology to evaluate concussion and Post-Concussion Syndrome
- Development of a simple clinical prediction rule for identifying vestibular dysfunction in patients with persistent post-traumatic dizziness
