Functional outcomes of pediatric patients in Short-term Pediatric Rehabilitation Intensive Therapy (SPRINT) while receiving acute oncologic and hematologic care

Background Pediatric patients with oncologic and hematologic diagnoses who experience newly acquired functional deficits during a hospitalization may benefit from intensive therapies. However, acute medical issues or disease treatment plans may prevent a safe transfer to the inpatient rehabilitation unit. Accordingly, Short-term Pediatric Rehabilitation Intensive Therapy (SPRINT), a 2-week inpatient intensive therapy program, was developed for pediatric patients on an acute care service. Objective To assess functional outcomes of SPRINT participants, adverse events associated with the program, and measures of patients' fatigue, sadness, nervousness, and pain by parents and patients at the start and end of SPRINT. Design Retrospective cohort study. Settings Hematology-Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant units at regional pediatric tertiary care hospital. Participants Eighteen pediatric patients (50% female, age 1.9-17.8 years) participated in SPRINT, and 11 parents and 4 children completed questionnaires. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Functional outcomes of SPRINT participants measured by Caregiver Assistance section of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), adverse events identified on chart review, and inquiry of participants' symptoms before and after SPRINT with a questionnaire. Results Common diagnoses included leukemia and lymphoma (N = 9, 50%) and central nervous system tumor (N = 6, 33%). Deconditioning (N = 18, 100%) and peripheral neuropathy (N = 8, 44.4%) were common rehabilitation diagnoses. Significant gains were found in tasks in self-care and mobility domains of PEDI (all P < .05), as well as functional expression in social function domain (P = .03). No adverse events related to SPRINT participation were identified. There was no significant difference between pre- and post-SPRINT questionnaire responses. Conclusions SPRINT is an alternative model for intensive rehabilitation care delivery. Data suggested that SPRINT participation was safe and resulted in significant gains in mobility, self-care, and functional expression for pediatric patients with hematologic and oncologic diagnoses while receiving acute care. No difference was found in questionnaire responses after SPRINT participation.