Functional assessment of people with spinal cord injury: use of the functional independence measure - FIM

Spinal cord injury usually occurs from trauma, causing serious disturbances for the individual, the family, and society at large, and is considered a serious public health problem. The aim of this research was to investigate functional gain in people with traumatic paraplegia participating in a rehabilitation program, by applying the Functional Independence Measure Scale. This is a retrospective cross-sectional, quantitative and descriptive study, with analysis of 228 medical records. We used Statistical Package for Social Science software, version 13 for Windows, with specific statistical tests. There was average functional improvement in all categories of body care, sphincter control, transfers, locomotion and stairs. The smallest functional gain occurred in the items feeding and toileting. Rehabilitation promotes gains in functional independence, since there was an average increase in functional gain of people with spinal cord injury.

Rehabilitation; Paraplegia; Epidemiology; Nursing