Research Project
Type of Project: Funded project Model project Implementation project
PolyFM: case management for persons with multiple severe injuries

The project provides case management for polytrauma patients during their period of rehabilitation and develops a knowledge base for future interventions. In the current setting, persons with severe injuries are required to have obtained a medium level of recovery and regained the ability to perform certain daily tasks, before they can enter occupational rehabilitation programmes. In certain cases, this means a long waiting period in between hospital discharge and rehabilitation admission. During this time, polytrauma patients are left “alone” and without rehabilitative support that would enable them to easily return to work.

The project will establish a network of specialised hospitals in Lower Saxony and will organise regular information days. On those days, a dedicated case manager will undertake a first assessment of prospective participants’ chances to return to work. If positive, the case manager will accompany the severely injured person for a period of around six months and provides guidance to necessary steps in returning to work. In addition, administrative records will be analysed in order to provide insights about the impact of aftercare starting immediately after discharge from the intensive care unit.

The project’s goals are:
- To inform recent polytrauma patients about options for occupational rehabilitation
- To provide individual support to severely injured persons by guiding them to existing support measures
- To structure the process of recovery with the aim of enabling severely injured persons to return to work once fully recovered

The estimated number of participants is 50 to 60 persons, depending on the number and severity of the recruited persons. The project will focus on regions around selected specialised hospitals in Lower Saxony. The success of the project will be measured by comparison with a historical cohort/a group of past occupational rehabilitation patients with polytrauma.