Patients with neurological disorders often suffer from dysfunctions such as hemiplegia, aphasia, dyscognition, and loss of use, and these dysfunctions are difficult to achieve by traditional clinical treatment alone. In recent years, neurorehabilitation medicine has developed rapidly, focusing on solving patients’ functional impairment problems, improving their quality of life and promoting the development of rehabilitation medicine. Rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary and multidisciplinary work, often involving physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychotherapy, prosthetic and orthotic technology, and other disciplines such as medicine, engineering, psychology, education, sociology, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on the collaboration of various departments to achieve the goal of rehabilitation. For this reason, rehabilitation medicine often takes the form of a multi-disciplinary rehabilitation team.
In the rehabilitation of neurological disorders, a rehabilitation team led by a rehabilitation physician is often formed to carry out rehabilitation work (team work), and its main personnel are as follows.
(i) Rehabilitation physician.
A rehabilitation physician is a professional physician who has graduated from a regular medical university and has received systematic training in rehabilitation medicine, and has obtained a license to practice medicine. In addition to treating the primary disease, controlling various complications and comorbidities, and stabilizing the patient’s condition, the rehabilitation physician is required to organize and hold regular meetings of the rehabilitation treatment team, lead the rehabilitation treatment team members in room visits, and direct, supervise, and coordinate the work of the members of each treatment team. For special medical problems of patients, the rehabilitation physician is responsible for submitting consultation applications to experts of relevant disciplines and discussing treatment measures together, etc.
(ii) Physiotherapist.
The physiotherapist is a therapist who graduated from a regular medical school majoring in physiotherapy and obtained national qualification recognition, and is an important part of the rehabilitation treatment team, mainly responsible for the assessment and treatment of patients’ somatic dysfunction, including joint mobility, muscle strength and endurance, coordination and balance, body transfer and walking ability, gait and posture abnormality training, training after wearing lower limb orthotics and prostheses, and various physical factor treatment, etc.
(iii) Occupational therapist.
Occupational therapists are therapists who have graduated from a regular medical school with a major in occupational therapy and have obtained national accreditation. They are an important part of the rehabilitation team and are mainly responsible for restoring patients’ ability to live, learn, play and work in daily life, including training in patients’ ability to take care of themselves in daily life, sensory and perceptual training, training in wearing upper limb orthotics, guidance in making and using self-help supports for daily life, family and social environment
(iv) Speech therapist.
Speech therapists are therapists who have graduated from regular medical schools and obtained national qualifications, and are an important part of the rehabilitation team. They are mainly responsible for the assessment and treatment of speech and language disorders, including aphasia, dysarthria, delayed language development in children, speech disorders and swallowing disorders, etc.
(V) Psychotherapist.
The psychotherapist is a professional therapist who graduated from a higher education institution with a major in psychology or has received professional training in psychology, and is mainly responsible for the assessment of patients’ psychological disorders, psychological counseling, psychological guidance, handling of stressful events, behavioral therapy, etc.
(F) orthotics and prosthetics technician.
Orthotic and prosthetic technicians are engineering technicians who graduated from biomedical engineering majors in institutions of higher learning or received training in rehabilitation medicine, and are mainly responsible for the assessment, production and training of orthotics and prostheses, and guiding patients and their families in the daily maintenance of orthotics and prostheses, etc.
(vii) Rehabilitation nurses.
Rehabilitation nurses are nurses trained in rehabilitation medicine. In addition to basic nursing work, they are mainly responsible for the positioning of patients during bed rest, bed activities, position transfer, skin care, rectal and bladder treatment, pressure sore care, guidance on the use of daily living aids, education on rehabilitation knowledge, etc.
(viii) Style therapist.
Sports and cultural therapists are professionals trained in rehabilitation medicine and are mainly responsible for arranging and guiding patients’ cultural and recreational activities, therapeutic sports, social activities, etc., in order to stimulate patients’ enthusiasm and motivation for active activities and establish a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
(ix) Chinese medicine rehabilitation therapist.
TCM rehabilitation therapists are professionals who have graduated in Chinese medicine and have received training in rehabilitation medicine, and are mainly responsible for patients’ tui-na, massage, acupuncture and herbal treatment.
(x) Social workers.
Social workers are professionals who have graduated in sociology from higher education institutions and have received training in rehabilitation medicine. They are mainly responsible for liaising with patients’ families and communities, evaluating patients’ homes, family income, employment situation, lifestyle, etc., coordinating and solving patients’ treatment costs, creating conditions for patients to return to their families and society, and solving problems for patients’ families.
(xi) Patient’s family and/or caregiver.
The patient’s family and/or caregiver is also an important member of the rehabilitation team. The patient’s family and/or caregiver participates in decision-making, treatment planning, and the entire process of rehabilitation treatment.