Sections
Need for Systems and Concept for Systems
Excerpt
Too often psychiatric or behavioral health care for individuals
with TBI has been provided in isolation from and in disregard for
existing rehabilitation systems. This isolation has led to redundancy
of care as well as failure by each system to garner the full value
of the expertise in the other. In this chapter we explore critical
elements of the existing TBI service delivery system, recognizing
that this system still fails to provide comprehensive and coordinated
care for the great majority of individuals who experience TBI because of
financial or geographic barriers that prevent the individuals' access
to services. This failure reflects the disjointed policy and funding
of American health service delivery pointedly discussed in the Institute
of Medicine's Crossing the Quality Chasm:
A New Health System for the 21st Century (2001).
Yet a system has emerged over the last 30 to 35 years, spurred by
the demands of families in need of services, growing recognition
of the size and cost of TBI, and growth in available treatment approaches
based in part on federally funded research in TBI. Elements of the
system include various settings of care, clinical disciplines, and
funding and policy guidelines. Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation
Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) (OIF/OEF) and the identification
of brain injury as the signature injury of these wars have affected
all elements of this system (Tanielian 2008).