Rehabilitation medicine in countries of Central/Eastern Europe

Abstract

The framework that evolved in all except Slovenia is not appropriate to needs. In order to meet future challenges all five CEE countries need the incorporation of inpatient, outpatient and community-based rehabilitation into one system.

Physical and rehabilitation medicine training center in Split, Croatia: striving to achieve excellence in education of a rehabilitation team

“…Great natural richness in mineral springs all over Croatia led to development of a large number of specialized rehabilitation centers (Daruvar, Bizovac, Istra, Ivanić Grad, Krapina, Lipik, Stubica, Topusko, Varaždin, Sisak and Split) [10]. Geographical dispersion of these institutions largely contributed to the poor cohesion of health professionals and absence of a common vision of the development of rehabilitation medicine as a profession [9,10].…”

“…First, rehabilitation facilities in Croatia were thermal resorts, established for utilization of mineral springs, traditionally used in the historical region of Croatia since the Roman time for healing purposes [8,9]. Great natural richness in mineral springs all over Croatia led to development of a large number of specialized rehabilitation centers (Daruvar, Bizovac, Istra, Ivanić Grad, Krapina, Lipik, Stubica, Topusko, Varaždin, Sisak and Split) [10].…”

Application of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), Functional Health and Disability

“…From this point of view, ICF is of great importance, as it forms a conceptual framework permitting further developments in this area. Thanks to ICF, it is possible to better define and evaluate the positive or negative impacts of various aspects of the environment on the participation of persons with disability -how this environment mitigates the consequences of the disability (facilitation) or, on the other hand, how it aggravates the disability through the creation of new obstacles (barriers) (6,7). The easier evaluation of these data, the greater the benefit and development of policy from the local, regional and national level up to the European level.…”

Strengthening health systems to provide rehabilitation services

“…Factors contributing to the unmet need for rehabilitation services include poor accessibility, transport barriers, high out‐of‐pocket expenses and long waiting times (Bjarnason‐Wehrens, et al, ; Eldar et al, ). An additional factor is a lack of awareness of the need for rehabilitation; what it is, what it does, and whom it may benefit.…”