Post-Acute Medical Evaluation and Research
CETRI's fundamental goal is to help survivors of electrical shock injury
that have developed difficult to treat problems in the recovery phase of
their injuries. CETRI helps the patient and referring physician with
providing subspecialty evaluation and treatment recommendations. A
close partnership is important.
CLINICAL PROGRAM
Medical problems resulting from electrical shock injury can involve any organ system or a complex combination of systems. No two patients manifest identical clinical manifestations. CETRI’s clinical program involves a broadly interdisciplinary team that conducts the medical evaluation and then collaborates with the other members of the team to converge on a single team report. This report is sent to both the patient's lead medical advisor and the patient.
Evaluations
Most patients present with multi-system medical complaints. Every effort is made to coordinate medical evaluations to minimize the patient's expenditure of time, especially if they have traveled a considerable distance from home to Chicago. The evaluations are conducted across multiple medical centers in Chicago where the CETRI faculty conduct their clinical operations and occasionally in Urbana-Champaign for high-precision functional imaging.
This evaluation typically entails several days of intensive testing. Following the evaluations, our team will collect the diagnostic data and coordinate with the faculty to produce a self-consistent team comprehensive report. To allow sufficient time for our team members to collaborate, it usually takes approximately 8-12 weeks for the report to be prepared. Our program is designed to help facilitate the ongoing care of our patients. With the permission of the patient, CETRI provides a copy final report to the patient's physician. The best outcomes occur when CETRI is able to collaborate with the patient's primary care or rehabilitation care providers.
CONTINUITY OF CARE
The best outcomes result from continuity of care. For local patients, follow up is scheduled routinely. For patients that travel a substantial distance, collaboration with local or regional providers is important. The CETRI team routinely contacts patients and local care providers for follow up information and often for additional visits to CETRI as needed.