Using talking lights to assist brain-injured patients with daily inpatient therapeutic schedule

To test the ability of patients with brain injury to use a patient locator and minder (PLAM) system to assist in their adherence to therapy schedules. Five patients with acquired brain injury who were inpatients on an acute rehabilitation floor of a rehabilitation hospital. The number of human prompts necessary to direct a patient to, and ensure arrival at, a scheduled therapy destination and the proportion of therapy sessions requiring no prompting was measured both before and after the introduction of the PLAM system. With the PLAM system, the average number of human prompts dropped by more than 50%, and the number of sessions requiring no prompting increased from 7% to 44%. The PLAM system described in this article seems feasible and useful for patients with acquired brain injury in assisting them with arrival at their therapy destinations without the assistance of staff.