PEOPLE WITH SPINAL CORD INJURY IN HOSPITALS: SCHEDULES AND TIME MANAGEMENT

Now that you have some grounding in the medical and physical realities of spinal cord injury, what can you expect as a patient in a hospital? How do you deal with medical personnel? What are their roles?As a patient in a hospital, you have entered a new world. It consists of predetermined schedules for visitors, therapies, meals, and waking and sleeping. It has a defined hierarchy of authority. It gives you more (or less) personal care than you probably expect, and minimal privacy.
Schedules and Time ManagementFirst, let’s consider the hospital timetable. Hospitals have their own schedules. You’re awakened early and have your meals early. You usually order your meals from a limited number of offerings. Technicians may come into your room at any time to give you a variety of tests, or you may be removed from your room for tests or therapies. Visiting hours may be set, and at some hospitals, phone service is cut off early in the evening. Just when you get the schedule under your belt, a weekend arrives and the whole itinerary changes!You may find the disruption of some routines and the rigidity of others disorienting during your first weeks in the hospital. You may also experience time as compressed or slowed down, because many tasks will take much longer to accomplish soon after your injury. Yet your situation may seem to change every day, as early recovery unfolds.
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