title: Perceived Quality of Life With Spinal Cord Injury: A Comparison Between Emergency Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the attitudes of health care providers who treat patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and examine whether Emergency Medicine (EM) and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) physicians differ in their judgments about quality of life (QOL) after SCI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaire survey of PM&R and EM physicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Board-certified PM&R and EM physicians listed in the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and the American College of Emergency Physicians and/or faculty from academic PM&R and EM departments in the United States and Canada.
  
  
  METHODS
  Evaluating various aspects of perceived QOL if the physician hypothetically sustained an SCI, including impact on leisure activities, social relationships, happiness, meaningful work, satisfying sexual relationships, and overall QOL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 91 EM physicians and 89 PM&R physicians completed the surveys. PM&R physicians were more likely to agree that they would have a better QOL compared with EM physicians, regardless of the level of injury or aspect of life (P < .01 in all cases). Female physicians, regardless of specialty, were more likely to choose a lower level at which they would choose to die, rather than live, if they sustained an SCI (P = .03). Physicians in both groups were more likely to disagree that they would have a high QOL at a lower level of injury if they disagreed at a higher level of injury (P ≤ .02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regardless of specialty, PM&R and EM physicians have their own personal perceptions of QOL with SCI. PM&R physicians tend to believe that they would have a higher QOL with an SCI compared with EM physicians and likely have a more optimistic view of SCI. Patient care may be improved by interdisciplinary discussion, as evidenced by the disparity exhibited by practitioners in these 2 specialties who care for the same patient population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago/Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Cushman
authors.affiliation: Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN.
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago/Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Debjani
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.affiliation: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Reid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago/Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Gayle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spill
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010810:Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States