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To the best of our knowledge, this is the first and only controlled study of a specific vocational rehabilitation program to report improved employment outcomes for persons with SCI. SE, a well-prescribed method of integrated vocational care, was superior to usual practices in improving employment outcomes for veterans with SCI.

Objectives: To develop an International Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Basic Data Set presenting a standardized format for the collection and reporting of a minimal amount of information on UTIs in daily practice or research. Setting: International working group. Methods: The draft of the Data Set developed by a working group was reviewed by the Executive Committee of the International SCI Standards and Data Sets, and later by the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) Scientific Committee and the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Board. Relevant and interested scientific and professional (international) organizations and societies (B40) were also invited to review the data set, and it was posted on the ISCoS and ASIA websites for 3 months to allow comments and suggestions. The ISCoS Scientific Committee, Executive Committee and ASIA Board received the data set for final review and approval. Results: The International SCI UTI Basic Data Set includes the following variables: date of data collection, length of time of sign(s)/ symptom(s), results of urine dipstick test for nitrite and leukocyte esterase, urine culture results and resistance pattern. The complete instructions for data collection and the data form itself are freely available on the website of ISCoS (http://www.iscos.org.uk).

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Background/Objectives: Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) have been published on a number of topics in spinal cord injury (SCI) medicine. Research in the general medical literature shows that the distribution of CPGs has a minimal effect on physician practice without targeted implementation strategies. The purpose of this study was to determine (a) whether dissemination of an SCI CPG improved the likelihood that patients would receive CPG recommended care and (b) whether adherence to CPG recommendations could be improved through a targeted implementation strategy. Specifically, this study addressed the ''Neurogenic Bowel Management in Adults with Spinal Cord Injury'' Clinical Practice Guideline published in March 1998 by the Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine Methods: CPG adherence was determined from medical record review at 6 Veterans Affairs SCI centers for 3 time periods: before guideline publication (T1), after guideline publication but before CPG implementation (T2), and after targeted CPG implementation (T3). Specific implementation strategies to enhance guideline adherence were chosen to address the barriers identified by SCI providers in focus groups before the intervention.Results: Overall adherence to recommendations related to neurogenic bowel did not change between T1 and T2 (P ¼ not significant) but increased significantly between T2 and T3 (P , 0.001) for 3 of 6 guideline recommendations. For the other 3 guideline recommendations, adherence rates were noted to be high at T1.Conclusions: While publication of the CPG alone did not alter rates of provider adherence, the use of a targeted implementation plan resulted in increases in adherence rates with some (3 of 6) CPG recommendations for neurogenic bowel management.J Spinal Cord Med. 2005;28:394-406

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Spinal cord epidural stimulation (SCES) exhibits a rehabilitation potential of restoring locomotion in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). However, this is linked to an intensive rehabilitation locomotion approach, which is impractical to apply among a large clinical SCI population. We, hereby, propose a rehabilitation approach of using SCES to enhance motor control during exoskeletal‐assisted walking (EAW). After 24 sessions (12 weeks) of EAW swing assistance decreased from 100% to 35% in a person with C7 complete SCI. This was accompanied by 573 unassisted steps (50% of the total number of steps). Electromyographic pattern improved during EAW, reflecting the subject’s ability to rhythmically activate paralyzed muscles. Rate perceived exertion increased during EAW with SCES compared to stepping without SCES. These preliminary findings suggest that using SCES with EAW may be a feasible rehabilitation approach for persons with SCI.