Inpatient rehabilitation care

During your stay at Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center, a team of experts will help you recover at the inpatient rehabilitation unit so you can become as independent as possible before returning home. In addition, our rehab team works with your home caregivers to assist in training the skills needed to assist you after you've left.

Your rehab health professional team includes the physician, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and social work. The team works to address medical, physical and cognitive concerns. There also are other services that you might encounter if it's required, such as support from dietary services, respiratory therapy, pharmacy and radiology.

Where we start

Our experienced staff of physical and occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists has extensive clinical backgrounds in various therapy interventions and provide excellent care. It's our goal to get you up and moving sooner and to decrease your time in the hospital.

It starts with your therapist performing evaluations to determine baseline functional, swallowing, speaking, and/or cognitive status. The therapist then designs a course of treatment with specific interventions and attainable goals to improve function and independence in daily activities.

What to expect

Depending on your diagnosis, you'll receive a set amount of therapy services every day during your stay, including:

  • Physical therapy. Focuses on function with re-training to walk, restoring joint function and teaching joint protection, assessing for assistive devices, addressing balance issues and safety awareness with transfers.
  • Occupational therapy. Plays an important role in facilitating early mobilization, self-care training and cognitive training. In children, occupational therapists address problems that hinder progression of normal development in self-care and play activities. We assess the need for adaptive equipment and recommend equipment to ensure easier and safer activities of daily living (ADLs). We'll fit you with splints to prevent joint deformity and contractures.
  • Speech language pathology. Addresses problems related to speaking, swallowing, eating, or thinking/problem solving. Additionally, speech pathologists perform bedside evaluations to determine safety in eating and swallowing and make recommendations for diet and liquid consistencies. The therapists use highly specialized equipment such as a modified barium swallow studies and Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) as needed to further assess your ability to swallow.

The daily emphasis in rehab is to get you back to your day-to-day routine by mimicking a home environment. You'll be encouraged to get out of bed each morning and dressed for the day as you would at home. There is a dining room where you can have three meals a day. Increasing the ability to participate in the activities of daily living is a stepping stone to achieving the independence needed to return to home. When you have reached that level of independence, the healthcare team collaborates with the patient to safely discharge home.