Impact of the clinical practice guideline for preservation of upper limb function on transfer skills of persons with acute spinal cord injury

Objectives: To describe the development of a strict education protocol to implement the clinical practice guideline "Preservation of Upper Limb Function Following Spinal Cord Injury" into a clinical setting, and evaluate the effect of the protocol on transfer quality. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Acute Model Spinal Cord Injury Systems rehabilitation facility and community. Participants: Volunteer sample of full-time wheelchair users (N=70) with new spinal cord injuries randomized (1:1) to an intervention and standard-of-care group. Intervention: The intervention group was educated on transfer skills with a structured protocol implemented by a physical and occupational therapist who were extensively educated on the clinical practice guidelines and current transfer research. The standard-of-care group received standard therapy services. Main Outcome Measures: Comparison of transfer quality evaluated by the Transfer Assessment Instrument at 4 time points during first year after injury. Results: No significant differences were found between study groups. Secondary analysis based on type of transfer performed found that participants in the intervention group who performed assisted sitting pivot transfers performed higher-quality transfers (mean ± SE: 9.43±.55) compared with the standard-of-care group (mean ± SE: 7.81±.46) (P=.026) at 1 year after discharge. Also, participants who performed a dependent transfer had a higher average score across all 4 time points (mean ± SE: 9.14±.34) compared with the standard-of-care group (mean ± SE: 8.09±.29) (P=.019). Conclusions: For participants who perform assisted or dependent transfers, use of an evidenced-based, structured education program during acute inpatient rehabilitation has the potential to significantly improve the quality of transfers. Further follow-up testing is necessary with a larger sample size to determine the long-term effects.