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Polytrauma/TBI System of Care

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Intensive Evaluation & Treatment Program (IETP )

Intensive Evaluation & Treatment Program (IETP)

IETPThe IETP provides specialized integrated rehabilitation care for eligible Veterans, Special Operations Forces and Conventional Service members with a complex history of multiple TBIs, numerous body injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and emotional dysregulation to improve health and wellness, including managing outcomes associated with pain, function, participation, and mental health.

There are five IETP sites co-located with Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers (PRCs) in Richmond, VA; Tampa, FL; San Antonio, TX; Palo Alto, CA; and Minneapolis, MN.

 

 

 

IETPs offer:

  • intensive, inpatient medical and rehabilitation services; length of stay is typically 3 to 8 weeks and varies by program and participant goals and needs
  • innovative, interdisciplinary, evidence-based, and comprehensive rehabilitation and reintegration services in peer-supported environments
  • assessment, treatment, and care coordination for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and common comorbidities, including
    • Chronic Pain/Headache
    • Mental Health/PTSD/Trauma Related Disorders
    • Orthopedic, Musculoskeletal, and Soft Tissue Conditions
    • Cognitive Dysfunction
    • Vision/Vestibular & Otologic Dysfunction
    • Sleep Dysfunction
  • support for the operational preparedness of our Special Operations Forces and Conventional Active-Duty Service Members, or the transition to civilian life for Veterans with a complex history of mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI)
  • holistic community re-integration services focused on family, vocational, social, and spiritual well-being

Best candidates for IETP programs are:

Special Operations Forces, Conventional Active-Duty Service Members and Veterans who:

  • have a complex history of mild to moderate TBI
  • have injuries multiple body structures
  • have persistent TBI-related symptoms impacting function
  • have behavioral/mental health dysregulation
  • have medical and mental health needs
  • are medically stable
  • are able to successfully participate in groups and individual therapy sessions
  • are willing to participate in an inpatient program
  • have goals that can be addressed by the program
  • are committed to participate
  • would benefit from peer support
  • will focus efforts to continue recommended treatment and apply knowledge and skills post program completion.

IETP interdisciplinary services may include:

  • Medicine
  • Physiatry
  • Nurse Case Management/Services
  • Physical Therapy
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Kinesiotherapy
  • Speech-Language Pathology
  • Audiological Rehabilitation
  • Social Work and Care Coordination Services
  • Neuropsychological Management
  • Mental Health Services
  • Vocational Rehabilitation
  • Recreation Therapy/Community Reintegration
  • Knowledge Translation Specialists
  • Pain Management
  • Pharmacology/Medication Management
  • PTSD Treatment
  • Sleep/Insomnia Management
  • TBI Optometry
  • Vestibular Therapy
  • Vision Therapy
  • Psychiatry
  • Diet/Nutrition
  • Creative Arts Therapy
  • Headache Management
  • Assistive Technology
  • Adaptive Sports

Quality care backed by evidence

IETP partners with VA’s Office of Quality Enhancement Research Initiative or QUERI to utilize the Partnered Evaluation Initiative (PEI) to characterize and evaluate the implementation of the IETP program across 5 PRC Centers of Excellence. The funded, multiyear study aims to characterize and evaluate treatment and program implementation to ensure a balance of care that is evidence-based and innovative. The PEI measures program outcomes and aims to describe participant trajectories and needs after discharge to incorporate those findings back into programming to create a continuous learning ecosystem.

IETP partners with VA’s Office of Quality Enhancement Research Initiative or QUERI to utilize the Partnered Evaluation Initiative (PEI) to characterize and evaluate the implementation of the IETP program across 5 PRC Centers of Excellence.

What Participants say about IETP

The first couple of days, it's really about what you've gone through. What are some of the pains you're going through? What are the injuries you've sustained? What have you been struggling with? And once they figure that out, they start tailoring a program for you, and then every day just becomes a therapeutic session, right. Whether it's with the occupational therapist, the speech therapist, the art therapist, or whoever. It's like an hour session with each.
It's inpatient, and it was really the reset that I needed to kind of get myself in a better position health-wise, but also to figure out what's the best treatment plan for me moving forward after I retire from the military.
The best TBI care you’ll get while in military service, and you’ll go in learning -- thinking you know a lot already and come out learning even more and having better tools for a lifelong plan instead of a one- or two-year plan.
…the biggest thing is probably more patient and understanding of my kids and my wife and it -- it helped me to appreciate them more because I wasn’t just so worried about being able to -- to function on a base level.
I’m getting more sleep than I ever have in probably the past 20 years, which is good, really good…I’m still using some of the modalities that were prescribed, my Alpha-Stim, my TENS unit, my HeartMath, things like that. Mindfulness was something I had to learn from the standpoint of just pausing to take notice of things, for something other than my job or work. So, things in the moment versus, what’s coming up next...
I think the individual care is really the best part of it because it’s – for the first time in your career, especially for a long-career guy, you know, it’s the first time that anybody’s really focuses on you, and that’s – you know, it’s just something most people, at least in my line of work, don’t experience. And that – I don’t know – I just thought that was extremely helpful.
I’ve never received care where all the providers knew what was going on with me. And I just think that was incredible.
It was just nice that someone is exactly in your same shoes, maybe for different reasons, but we all pretty much had very similar, you know, cognitive, behavioral, and physical ailments going on from different reasons.
Between the staff, the facilities, the program – from the volunteers to the doctors in charge, it was an exceptional experience. It was helpful. It made an impact on my life, that staff – I can’t say enough good things about the doctor and the team.



Printable flyer containing page information

Printable flyer containing page information

Site map - Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers (PRCs) in Richmond, VA; Tampa, FL; San Antonio, TX; Palo Alto, CA; and Minneapolis, MN.

IETP Program Contacts:

Richmond, VA (STAR)

Servicemember Transitional Advanced Rehabilitation (STAR) Program | VA Richmond Health Care | Veterans Affairs

Tampa, FL (PREP)

Post-Deployment Rehabilitation and Evaluation Program - VA Tampa Health Care

San Antonio, TX (PACER)

VA San Antonio Polytrauma Programs

Palo Alto, CA (PA-IETP)

VA Palo Alto Polytrauma Programs

Minneapolis, MN (RENEW)

VA Minneapolis Polytrauma Transitional Rehabilitation Program

IETP Video Links:



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