Brain injury rehabilitation: standard problem lists.

Numerous problem lists have been developed since the introduction of the Problem-Oriented Medical Record (POMR). General medical, surgical, psychiatric and rehabilitation settings have been found to be appropriate for the POMR system. The development of a standard problem list for use in brain injury rehabilitation and its application in a typical case are described. The standardized list is believed to facilitate efficient identification of problems and of specific treatment plans and to provide a more uniform approach to evaluation of progress. However, the development of a problem list involves some difficulties in the evaluation of the validity and reliability of criteria used to determine the presence or absence of a problem, in the tendency to generate an unnecessarily lengthy list, and in the achievement of agreement regarding terminology.