You Are What You Read: 8/2/09

Patients with spinal cord injuries (SCI) are now having shortened hospital stays. The result of this circumstance is less time in hospital for patient education. The Mayo Clinic Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury: Moving Ahead with Your Life is an outstanding educational resource for patient and family use that offers the extensive information needed to help a SCI patient on the path to recovery.

Anyone who has had a major health crisis with permanently life altering effects can attest to the mind numbing shock that occurs immediately after the doctor shares the news. Patients are deluged with information in an effort to start the healing process promptly.

Speaking from my personal experience from the day I was newly diagonsed with systemic lupus... I can vividly recall all the overwhelming changes occurring with no time for my mind to catch up. I was seeing numerous specialists, being prescribed medications, having to make abrupt lifestyle changes and being recommended books to purchase, websites to visit, handouts to read... everything getting lost in a clutters of papers because I was too confused by the immediate situation.

I wish I had had a manual like Mayo Clinic Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury: Moving Ahead with Your Life . This manual takes all those informational handouts and gathers them together in a highly readable and organized manner. The emphasis for SCI treatment is patient AND family involvement for a successful rehabilitation. The handbook is written to include the patient's caregivers (who usually are family). The writing is concise and addresses topics that I would think many patients would either be too embarrassed to discuss... or wouldn't even had thought to ask questions about.

Beyond the educational value for patient and family, this book would definitely be beneficial as an instruction manual medical social workers. The book outlines a multitude of social and emotional challenges that a SCI patient and family will face. As a social worker I would definitely use this book in counseling sessions as a springboard for discussion.