About HSO's Standards

HSO’s standards are the foundation on which leading-edge accreditation programs and evidence-informed public policy are built. Standards create a strong people-centred health care system that stakeholders can rely on to enable people around the world to continuously improve quality of care.

HSO’s standards are formatted using the following structure:

• Section title. A section of the standard that relates to a specific topic.
• Clause. A thematic statement that introduces a set of criteria.
• Criteria. Requirements based on evidence that describe what is needed by people to achieve a particular activity. Each criterion outlines the intent, action, and accountability.
• Guidelines. Additional information and evidence to support the implementation of each criterion. 
  

About This Standard

CAN/HSO S3402:2024 (E) Integrated People-Centred Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program is a new standard that consolidates two previous HSO standards:

• HSO S3401:2018 (E) Spinal Cord Injury Acute Services
• HSO S3402:2018 (E) Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Services

This standard is based on findings from literature reviews, clinical expertise, evidence-informed practices, and lived experiences. The published evidence used to inform this standard can be found in the bibliography.

The focus of the standard is on the delivery of people-centred care by teams working in an integrated spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation program. This helps ensure that people living with SCI receive safe, reliable, high-quality, people-centred care, across the SCI rehabilitation continuum of care, that is based on their goals, needs, and preferences.

The content of this standard is structured into the following sections:

1. Integrating the SCI Rehabilitation Program Across the Continuum of Care
2. Upholding People-Centred Care
3. Ensuring Comprehensive Assessments
4. Co-designing the Individualized Care Plan
5. Enabling a Healthy and Competent Workforce
6. Promoting Continuous Quality Improvement

This standard integrates the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion outlined in Annex A.

This standard is aimed at the following key audiences:

• Organizational leaders and members of the workforce. This standard provides these audiences with information on delivering safe, reliable, high-quality, people-centred services in an integrated SCI rehabilitation program.
• People living with SCI, designated support people, and communities. This standard provides these audiences with information that allows them to co-design services and participate in and support safe, reliable, high-quality, people-centred care as active members of the team.
• Policy makers and system partners. This standard provides these audiences with guidance on quality and safety, to inform policy development, build a healthy and competent workforce for the future, and ensure the delivery of safe, reliable, high-quality, people-centred services.

This standard is intended to be used as part of a conformity assessment. This standard will undergo periodic maintenance. HSO will review and publish this standard on a schedule not to exceed five years from the date of publication.

Scope

Purpose

This standard provides organizational leaders, teams, partner organizations, and system partners working together in an SCI rehabilitation program with guidance on the policies, procedures, and practices that support the delivery of integrated safe, reliable, high-quality, people-centred care across the SCI rehabilitation continuum of care.

It does not prescribe the use of a particular approach or treatment, but rather focuses on how a comprehensive, continuous, and integrated SCI rehabilitation program can meet the needs of people living with SCI who receive rehabilitation services in health, social care, and community care settings, as well as their designated support people.

Applicability

This standard applies to organizational leaders, teams, partner organizations, and system partners working in health and social services organizations that provide care in an integrated SCI rehabilitation program across the SCI rehabilitation continuum of care.

The applicability of this standard is people of any age who experience an SCI.

Acknowledgements

This standard was developed in partnership with Praxis Spinal Cord Institute (PRAXIS). PRAXIS is a Canadian-based not-for-profit organization that leads global collaboration in spinal cord injury research, innovation, and care and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. PRAXIS accelerates the translation of discoveries and best practices into improved treatments for people with spinal cord injuries.

We acknowledge the valuable contributions of the Spinal Cord Injury Research Evidence (SCIRE) in the literature review that informed the development of this standard. The SCIRE project is an international collaboration between scientists, clinicians, and consumers headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and London, Ontario, Canada. The SCIRE team reviews, evaluates, and translates existing research knowledge into a clear and concise format to inform health professionals and other stakeholders on the evidence and best practices for spinal cord injury.