Rehabilitation Medicine

The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of Shandong Provincial Hospital was established in 2002. It is an independent second-level discipline integrating clinical care, teaching, and scientific research, and plays a leading role in rehabilitation medicine throughout Shandong Province. It is a postgraduate training site for master’s students in Rehabilitation Medicine and Physical Therapy at Shandong First Medical University and for master’s and doctoral students in Acupuncture and Tuina at Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 2014, it was approved as a national standardized residency training base for rehabilitation medicine; in 2015, as a key clinical specialty of Shandong Province; in 2016, as a key Traditional Chinese Medicine (Rehabilitation Medicine) specialty of Shandong Province; in 2014, as a designated rehabilitation hospital for work-related injuries; in 2019, as a member institution of the National Alliance for Caring for People with Spinal Cord Injury; in 2022, as a member institution of the National Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics and Sports Rehabilitation; and in 2024, as a member institution serving as vice-chair of the China Hospital Rehabilitation Medicine Consortium.

As a rehabilitation medical talent training base in Shandong Province, it was approved in 2011 as one of the first designated comprehensive training bases for rehabilitation therapists in Shandong Province; in 2013, as one of the first designated training bases for rehabilitation physicians in Shandong Province; in 2017, as a Shandong Province Health and Wellness Rehabilitation Medicine New Technology Training Base; and in 2018, as one of the first designated training bases for rehabilitation nurses in Shandong Province.

The Department also undertakes basic teaching in Rehabilitation Medicine and Acupuncture for undergraduates, seven-year-program students, and international students of Shandong University, Shandong First Medical University, and Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It also undertakes clinical instruction in rehabilitation medicine and rehabilitation therapy for students of Shandong University, Shandong First Medical University, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Weifang Medical University, Shandong Medical College, Shandong College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Liaocheng Vocational and Technical College, Zibo Vocational Institute, Jinan Vocational College of Nursing, Taishan Nursing College, and Jinan Special Education School. To date, it has received 39 trainees in standardized residency training for rehabilitation medicine, completed five sessions of theoretical and skills training for more than 200 rehabilitation therapists, and trained more than 100 primary-level rehabilitation physicians. Specialized rehabilitation-nurse training also began in 2018; four sessions have now been conducted, training a total of 44 specialized rehabilitation nurses. The Department has played a leading and radiating role in the development of Shandong Province’s rehabilitation medical service system and has made a positive contribution to the development of rehabilitation medicine in Shandong Province.

The Department has 23 physicians, all with doctoral degrees, including 2 chief physicians, 6 deputy chief physicians, 5 attending physicians, and 10 resident physicians. It also has rehabilitation therapists and rehabilitation nurses. Medical, technical, and nursing personnel are managed under a unified, homogenous system, with a complete management structure.

The discipline currently has two inpatient wards and two outpatient departments at the Central Campus and the Olympic Sports Campus. The inpatient wards have 71 beds and five subspecialty units: the critical-care rehabilitation unit, the arousal rehabilitation unit for disorders of consciousness, the cerebrovascular-disease rehabilitation unit, the traumatic-brain-injury rehabilitation unit, and the spinal-cord-injury rehabilitation department. The outpatient departments have seven subspecialties: musculoskeletal-pain rehabilitation, osteoarticular rehabilitation, sports-injury rehabilitation, scoliosis rehabilitation, pediatric rehabilitation, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, and pelvic-floor/postpartum rehabilitation. For various critical illnesses, disorders of consciousness, spinal-cord injuries, strokes, traumatic brain injuries, cerebral palsy, peripheral-nerve injuries, fractures, and conditions after joint replacement that result in paraplegia, hemiplegia, and other limb dysfunction, speech dysfunction, swallowing disorders, and neurogenic bladder and rectum, the Department has extensive clinical experience in rehabilitation assessment and treatment. Its clinical diagnosis and treatment level is leading nationally and within the province. In particular, critical-care rehabilitation and arousal rehabilitation for disorders of consciousness occupy a leading position in the province. Its diagnostic and treatment level is high, and it works closely with the ICU, thereby both reducing the ICU’s burden and saving substantial social resources. The arousal rate among patients with disorders of consciousness is high, and the Department has a significant social impact. Its distinctive technologies include injections of botulinum toxin type A for limb spasticity, such as spasticity of the upper and lower limbs on the hemiplegic side after stroke or traumatic brain injury and limb dysfunction in children with spastic cerebral palsy; the therapeutic effect is significant and brings hope of rehabilitation to patients with limb spasticity. In addition, the Department performs transcranial magnetic stimulation for limb dysfunction, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and arousal of patients in a vegetative state. It was one of the earliest institutions in the province to develop this technology and has accumulated extensive clinical treatment experience. The spinal-cord-injury rehabilitation department was the first institution in Shandong Province to establish this subspecialty. Its clinical diagnosis and treatment level is leading nationally and within the province, particularly in standardized ASIA neurological assessment and treatment for spinal-cord injury; assessment of the neurogenic bladder and rectum; prevention and assessment of pressure sores and deep-vein thrombosis; limb-function training; management of the neurogenic bladder and rectum; and management of various complications. It has reached a leading level nationally and occupies a leading position within the province. At the same time, the discipline is actively developing integrated clinical rehabilitation, emphasizing early rehabilitation intervention, integrating medical care and rehabilitation, and providing staged rehabilitation in order to improve patient prognosis, prevent the occurrence of disability, promote functional recovery, and reduce the disability rate.

Rehabilitation therapy facilities include a PT hall, an OT hall, a speech/cognitive therapy room, a swallowing assessment and treatment room, a neuromodulation treatment room, an electromyographic evoked-potential room, a balance assessment and training room, a low-/medium-frequency electrotherapy room, a high-frequency electrotherapy room, a phototherapy room, a shock-wave/ultrasound treatment room, and a botulinum-toxin injection room.

The Department’s current clinical specialties are: 1. Rehabilitation of critically ill patients: mainly involving cardiac function, pulmonary infection, tracheostomy management, and prevention and management of lower-limb venous thrombosis. 2. Arousal rehabilitation for disorders of consciousness: integrated Chinese and Western medicine arousal techniques, as well as recovery after arousal of limb, cognitive, speech, swallowing, and other functions, and recovery of the abilities to sit, stand, and walk. 3. Integrated Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis and treatment for refractory facial paralysis. 4. Pediatric rehabilitation, with emphasis on very early and early rehabilitation intervention for the development of brain function in infants and young children. 5. Screening, assessment, and rehabilitation of scoliosis in adolescents and children. 6. Integrated Chinese and Western medicine rehabilitation treatment for various types of pain, including nonsurgical intervention for neck, shoulder, lower-back, and leg pain. 7. Rehabilitation of all types of sports injuries. 8. Pelvic-floor rehabilitation and postpartum rehabilitation.