Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System
A collaborative effort of Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago & Northwestern Memorial Hospital
What is a Model System?
The Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System (MRSCICS) is led by David Chen, MD, medical director of the spinal cord injury rehabilitation program at Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) and the spinal cord injury acute care program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) .
The Model Systems program, sponsored by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), provides assistance through federal funding to establish innovative projects for the delivery, demonstration and evaluation of comprehensive medical, vocational and other rehabilitation services to meet the needs of individuals with spinal cord injury. NIDRR awards SCI Model System grants to institutions that are national leaders in medical research and patient care and provide the highest level of comprehensive specialty services. The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago/Northwestern Memorial Hospital has been chosen by NIDRR as one of 14 SCI Model System Centers that will work with other Model System Centers across the United States to demonstrate improved care, maintain a national database, participate in independent and collaborative research and provide continuing education relating to spinal cord injury.
History & Facts
The National Spinal Cord Injury Database has been in existence since 1973 and captures data from an estimated 13% of new SCI cases in the U.S. Since its inception, 25 federally funded Model SCI Care Systems have contributed data to the National SCI Database. As of June 2006 the database contained information on 24,332 persons who sustained traumatic spinal cord injuries. RIC has been a leading center for innovative, integrated, interdisciplinary care for persons with SCI and as one of the original five NIDRR-designated Model System Spinal Cord Injury Centers (in partnership with Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Hospital), its program has a long and strong tradition of comprehensive care for people with SCI. Having served as a leader in providing state-of the-art medical and rehabilitation care, training professionals and consumers in methods of SCI care, RIC conducts research involving novel methods to enhance medical and functional outcomes as well as advocate for people with SCI to insure that needs are met and civil rights are supported.