Establishing Clinical Practice Guidelines for Limb Loss Rehabilitation: Challenges and Obstacles Faced in Defining a Standard of Care, Underscoring the Need for a National Limb Loss Registry

Thursday, October 22, 2020

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM EST

Presenter(s)

Danielle H. Melton, MD, FAAPMR

Associate Professor McGovern Medical School
Director of Limb Loss Program at TIRR-MH
Houston, Texas
Kristin Reeves, PT

Physical Therapist
TIRR Memorial Hermann
Houston, Texas

Presentation Slides Presentation + Audio
DJ

Diana Johnson, MD

Resident Physician
McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

The Limb Loss patient population is projected to double by 2050. Growing with this patient population is the demand for further research to establish evidence-based protocols informing best practice rehabilitation guidelines of patients with limb loss. The current standard of care is ill-defined and informed by limited evidence. We aimed to define a standard of care in this patient population via a study protocol utilizing the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Rehabilitation of Individuals with Lower Limb Amputation (CPG) and a limited set of standardized outcome measures to evaluate rehabilitation effectiveness. From patient enrollment to data collection and analysis, we encountered multiple challenges and obstacles hindering our ability to efficiently and effectively study this patient population. Our experience underscores the importance of establishing a limb loss registry to better study and serve patients with limb loss.

Learning Objectives:

Discuss the incidence and prevalence of limb loss in the United States
Understand the role of standardized outcome measures in the rehabilitation patients with limb loss and the barriers to incorporating standardized outcome measures into everyday clinical practice
Demonstrate knowledge of a select set of standardized outcome measures (TUG, 6MWT, AMP-Pro, PROMIS, PLUS-M)
Demonstrate improved understanding of VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Rehabilitation of Individuals with Lower Limb Amputation
Verbalize the importance of establishing a National Registry for limb loss patients to support objective research initiatives.