Nursing's Contribution to Patient Rehabilitation Following Spinal Cord Injury: An Integrative Review

AIM: To identify how nurses contribute to patient rehabilitation following spinal cord injury. DESIGN: An integrative review using Whittemore and Knafl's updated integrative review methodology. METHODS: An initial systematic search found 24 articles that met the inclusion criteria of adults undergoing rehabilitation following an acquired spinal cord injury. A hand search of the reference lists of these articles identified one more article. The second search found another three articles. DATA SOURCES: Embase, Emcare and Medline from 1996 to 9 August 2021 for the initial search. The second searches included repeating the initial search from 9 August 2021 to 23 January 2025 and the Proquest database on 30 July 2025. RESULTS: The 28 reviewed articles revealed that: (1) nursing is central to the delivery of spinal cord injury rehabilitation services through the provision of nurse-initiated care and support (comprising physical care and psychosocial support), nurse-directed patient education and the co-ordination of care; and (2) the relationships nurses build with their patients facilitate the effectiveness of rehabilitation for those patients. These relationships relate to the manner in which nurses tailor psychosocial support and patient education to be meaningful to the individual patient and support their biographical adjustment to life after SCI. CONCLUSION: Nursing is central to the effective delivery of spinal cord injury rehabilitation. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: Nurse effectiveness may be enhanced by understanding the knowledge and skill required to sensitively integrate patient education with everyday care activities and intentionally fostering the development of these skills. IMPACT: This review highlights the centrality of nursing for rehabilitation effectiveness at both the individual patient and system level. REPORTING METHOD: Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution was part of this review.