Introduction to Rehabilitation at the Primary Care Level

Course overview

Rehabilitation is effective for many health conditions across the lifespan helping to reduce recovery time prevent complications and enhance physical and mental functioning and wellbeing. Rehabilitation supports participation in work community and family life and has been identified as an essential health service in the World Health Organizations definition of universal health coverage. One in three people will need rehabilitation during their life but in many parts of the world this need is largely unmet. Bringing rehabilitation services into primary care is one way to address this unmet need potentially transforming millions of lives reducing healthcare costs and strengthening health systems. This course introduces the role of rehabilitation at the primary care level. It explores the benefits and types of services that can be provided before providing simple implementation strategies. This course aims to introduce key primary care principles the benefits of implementing rehabilitation at a primary care level and practical implementation strategies.