Rehabilitation
It is not enough to save the patient’s life
or to carry out a successful operation for a benign condition: whenever
possible, the patient should be restored to full social and work capacity. This
aim demands more than surgical ‘cure’:
Motivation
is an important element in rehabilitation. In the USA, a company employee or
union-supported victim of trauma takes five times longer to resume his or her
normal work than a self-employed person. Therefore, rehabilitation should
include a programme of psychological and emotional readjustment in which the
family should play an active supportive role. Although rehabilitation can
involve the surgeon, pastor, marriage counsellor, occupational therapist, physio
therapist,
vocational training assistance scheme, prosthetic counsellor, psychiatrist,
health visitor and the family doctor, in many cases practical guidance and
effective support should emanate from the surgeon who carried out the primary
care. Nothing is more important than the timely recall by the surgeon at the
time of the initial surgical procedure that his or her patient will require
appropriate rehabilitation to achieve the best result.