Response to “On Primary Care and Spinal Cord Injury”

The author responds to concerns about developing standardized spinal cord injury (SCI) primary care guidelines. While agreeing on the need for more research, the author highlights broader primary care issues beyond specific medical ones for SCI patients. These issues include ensuring physical accessibility, establishing interdisciplinary support, setting up direct access to SCI specialist support, and collaborating with local advocacy groups. Standardized recommendations are useful for primary care offices serving persons with SCI to enhance their care. Guidelines provide justification for requesting financial and infrastructure support.

• 1
  Primary care for individuals with SCI needs to address physical accessibility in primary care offices.
• 2
  Interdisciplinary support in the primary care setting is critical for SCI patients.
• 3
  Direct access to SCI specialists such as Physiatrists, Neurologists, and spinal surgeons is important.