Exploration of rehabilitation psychology in multidisciplinary care of upper extremity peripheral nerve injuries: patient and provider perspectives

Peripheral nerve injuries pose long-term functional and psychological challenges, necessitating a multidisciplinary approach that integrates surgical, medical, and rehabilitative care. Rehabilitation psychologists play a critical role in addressing emotional distress and functional adaptation after injury, particularly as treatment decisions shape recovery expectations. This study examines how factors such as injury chronicity, mechanism, and surgical decisions impact patients’ perception of the value of rehabilitation psychology (RP) intervention following peripheral nerve injury. RP intervention consisted of seeing a rehabilitation psychologist for mental health screening, as well as recommendations for further mental health related follow-up. Fifty consecutive patients with upper extremity peripheral nerve injuries who underwent consultation at a multidisciplinary peripheral nerve clinic completed a two-item survey to assess the perceived importance of RP before and after their clinic visit. Providers were asked to complete a five-question survey. Patients were grouped based on their perception of the value of following RP intervention, and predictors of improved perception were analyzed. Following intervention, 74% of patients demonstrated improved perception of RP or stayed at the highest possible score both pre- and post-visit, suggesting that RP was found to be a valuable addition to the PNI care team. No statistically significant associations were found between perception changes and clinical factors. These findings support the integration of RP in multidisciplinary peripheral nerve injury care, and further research should explore the long-term role of RP and applicability to other injury types.