Client-Centred Rehabilitation - Arthritis Community Research ...

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readmission were important to our focus
group participants.
The greatest barrier to access was difficulty
in identifying services that are available. Not
knowing where to find help was a concern
for many of the participants. Physicians
were not necessarily knowledgeable about
community resources. Participants described
having to find services and resources on
their own or with the help of their families.
Information about these resources was
lacking for both the heath professionals and
clients.
“I had absolutely no contact with
The Arthritis Society. I didn’t know
they existed” PTPART #2
“But there is nothing to help you.
There probably is but I don’t know
about or I didn’t know about it.”
ARTH #4
“I guess one of the things that
everyday I discover another resource
or something like that that’s out there
but its not obvious …You feel pretty
alone and its not that the programs
aren’t there, they’re just not
communicated to you in any
consistent way.” SCI #1
Referral issues were raised by all groups and
had several common themes. Pushing or
fighting for a service while at the same time
dealing with a condition was a common
problem that was very difficult for many of
the participants.
“So I’m not fighting just the
emotional trauma of having to deal
with the brain injury itself; I am also
having to deal with the medical
system that is not servicing us
appropriately” ABI #1
“I knew I could ask for it but I
couldn’t be bothered. There was too
much to cope with….to bother
hassling…If I have to hassle to get
this for two hours twice a week its
not worth it.” PTPART #1
Lack of knowledge and information on the
part of health professionals of the roles of
other health care providers and available
services was a barrier to appropriate
referrals. All groups talked about the lack
of knowledge of health professionals,
particularly general practitioners, about the
system.
“Once you get at home, you get your
own routine from your own family
doctor, they don’t tell you a whole
lot. One time if something goes
wrong, suppose you got a cold or
pneumonia or you broke this, you
broke that…you know, fix that but
that’s about it. But, if you want to
know about some new program or
something like that they have no
idea. You know a lot of times
they’ll say, “Well, if you do have
some information, bring it back
because I’d like to hear about it.”
SCI #3
“They [doctors] don’t know what is
out there. They don’t know how to
refer. They don’t know where to
refer them” PTPART #1
All groups mentioned that waiting period for
access to services was too long and that
during the waiting time they often lost even
more function.
“they say there is going to be a
waiting period and thank God it was
shorter than they thought. It was still