'It's the hearing that is last to go': a case of traumatic head injury

Abstract

This article explores the literature related to acquired brain injury (ABI) and is followed by a case study of one patient with ABI, which reflects how the evidence, when implemented by a team of health professionals, can have a positive impact on recovery. Gregor is a middle-aged Polish man who suffered traumatic ABI when knocked down by a car. He spent a number of years in a specialist neurosurgical unit, then a rehabilitation unit, and for the past several years has been cared for in a care home. For most of this time he was in a coma. He began to come out of his coma and during his time in the care home received intensive physiotherapy and speech therapy. At the time of his brain injury Gregor could speak no English yet years later, when he began to regain consciousness, he was able to speak and understand English, a fact that might be attributed in part to 6 years of nurses talking to him in English as part of caring for him. Nurses are always told that hearing is the last of the senses to be lost when a person is unconscious or has a brain injury (Sisson, 1990). The case study presented in this article demonstrates the potential power of talking to a patient when providing care, even when that patient is in a coma, and the impact this may have had on Gregor. It also demonstrates the importance of the need for evidence-based neuro-rehabilitation, including multi-professional working by a team of specialist physiotherapists, nurses, speech therapists, continence specialist nurse and nutritionist.

Keywords: Acquired brain injury; Cognitive function; Neuro-rehabilitation; Speech therapy.