About the Traumatic Brain Injury Model System
The Traumatic Brain Injury Model System (TBIMS) program was created and funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) in 1987 to demonstrate the benefits of a coordinated system of neurotrauma and rehabilitation care and conduct innovative research on all aspects of care for those who sustain traumatic brain injuries. The mission of the TBIMS is to improve the lives of persons who experience traumatic brain injury, their families and communities by creating and disseminating new knowledge about the course, treatment and outcomes relating to their condition. Ohio Regional TBIMS is one of 16 centers throughout the United States that provide comprehensive systems of brain injury care to individuals who sustain a traumatic brain injury, from acute care through community re-entry. Each center works closely with the Model System Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC).
At the heart of the program is a long-term, longitudinal study of patients who receive rehabilitation for TBI. Each center systematically collects important data about eligible individuals with TBI. Consenting patients are followed 1, 2, 5, 10 and every 5 years thereafter to learn about the long-term effects of moderate and severe TBI. Each center contributes data to the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Data and Statistical Center (TBINDSC) located at Craig Hospital in Englewood, CO.
Ohio Regional Model System
The Ohio Regional TBI Model System was selected to continue as a TBI Model Systems Center through 2022 (NIDILRR #90DPTB0001, 9/30/17-9/29/22). The Ohio Regional TBI Model System is located in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Ohio State University Medical Center.
Jennifer Bogner is the principal investigator, John Corrigan is the co-principal investigator and Sheital Bavishi is the medical director. The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team at Dodd Hall plays a pivotal role in supporting this research, as do the trauma services of the Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center, OhioHealth’s Grant Medical Center and Riverside Methodist Hospitals, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Mount Carmel Health System.
The Ohio Regional TBI Model System was first funded in 1997, and is the longest continuously funded TBI Model System in the country. During that time, Ohio State has recruited more than 1,150 patients into a national dataset that follows people from their injury throughout their lifespan.
Participants in the TBI Model System research program are recruited from the Brain Injury Unit at the Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center and the Rehabilitation Unit at St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, which is part of the Mercy Health system. St. Rita’s Medical Center’s Rehabilitation Unit is the primary provider of inpatient rehabilitation services for a 10-county region in northwest Ohio. The addition of St. Rita’s to the Ohio Regional TBI Model System is new for this 5-year grant, and will assure that research participants are representative of both metropolitan and rural communities.