The international spinal cord injury survey: The way forward

Abstract

As a community survey of individuals living with spinal cord injury in 22 countries, representing all 6 of the World Health Organization regions, the International Spinal Cord Injury (InSCI) community survey is one of the few surveys that highlights not only basic medical issues, but also the impact of spinal cord injury (SCI) on the everyday lives of people. The InSCI survey is part of a much larger project known as the Learning Health System for SCI Initiative (LHS-SCI). The objective of this article is to highlight some of the ongoing and planned next steps at the national and international levels. The implementation phase of the LHS-SCI initiative, beginning with the publication of primary results and extending until 2023, will use the results of the InSCI survey as evidence for implementation of recommendations for improving the societal response to the needs of individuals with SCI at the national level. To illustrate the variety of implementation activities currently underway, we provide country examples from Australia, Morocco, Malaysia, and Germany to demonstrate the diversity of approaches to the implementation of InSCI data. The implementation phase of the LHS-SCI initiative promises to usher in a new era of SCI research that will be seamlessly linked to ongoing and effective implementation actions, at both international and national levels and across settings from clinical practice, health systems management, and national policy.