Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic

You will meet with the clinic physician and clinic coordinator. They will ask about your medical and social history, current symptoms, and the impact your symptoms have on your life. The clinic physician will make a diagnostic assessment and will provide recommendations for management of your traumatic brain injury symptoms. The team will provide you with information and education to help guide you in your recovery. You will also be provided with strategies and recommendations for return to work, school and/or other daily life activities.

Your plan of care may also include:

• additional medical, cognitive and/or diagnostics tests
• referrals for consultation with other specialists, medical services and other health care providers
• coordination of community supports and rehabilitation services (OHIP funded and third party funded services)

The clinic is structured to provide either one-time consultation or short term follow up, up to a maximum of one year from the time of their injury, with a view towards transition to the community for ongoing support.

The clinic offers in-person and virtual visits. The clinic team will let you know what type of appointment may be appropriate for your care and will also consider patient preference. Learn more about virtual visits at Sunnybrook.

Internal referrals

The Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic provides follow up to Sunnybrook Hospital patients who have sustained mild and moderate traumatic brain injury.

The Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic accepts referrals from:

• Sunnybrook’s Tory Trauma Program
• Sunnybrook’s Trauma Recovery Clinic
• Sunnybrook’s Emergency Department (for patients in Sunnybrook’s catchment area)

Community referrals

Referrals are also accepted from physicians in the community.

** All community referrals (patients who have not seen a doctor at Sunnybrook for their brain injury) must be made through the Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Network, which oversees referrals for publicly-funded ABI services within the GTA.

Eligibility criteria: Ages 16-64, with positive findings on brain imaging. Referrals must be made within three months of the injury. Motor vehicle-related injuries (MVC) and WSIB injuries are not accepted.

» Download the community referral form

To avoid duplication, patients who received inpatient brain injury rehabilitation, and/or patients who are referred to other brain injury clinics, will not be seen in the Sunnybrook Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic. Patients with individual symptoms that can be served by single services will also not be seen in the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic.

Our team reviews individual referrals before scheduling an appointment.

Note: Our clinic works with family doctors in a collaborative model of care and provides management recommendations to the referring physician. Patients who do not have a family doctor at the time of the referral should be counseled by the referring physician about how to obtain access to a family doctor or family health-care team.

Referral question?

Contact:
Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic coordinator
Phone: 416-480-4095

When you are referred to the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, your appointment will be booked for a specific day and time. You will receive a reminder call prior to your appointment.

The clinic is located in the C-Wing, Ground Floor, Room 2 within the Trauma Recovery Clinic.

Please allow 2 hours for your first appointment. Follow up appointments usually take 30 minutes to 1 hour.

If you have questions about your appointment or need to reschedule, please call 416-480-4053.

We request minimum 24 hours' notice should you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment. Charges may apply for appointments cancelled without notice.

Our TBI clinic does not provide emergency or urgent care services. If you have an urgent medical issue, please call 911 or go to your nearest Emergency Department.

What to bring to your appointment:

• Your Health Card
• Your family doctor’s name and address
• A list of your current medications
• Your reading glasses or hearing aids, if you wear them
• If possible, a family member or friend to support you or help you remember information

While receiving care in our clinic, you may be asked to consider participating in research

Research informs the care we provide. If you agree to discuss research, a research assistant may speak with you during your appointment(s) to introduce potential eligible studies. Your participation is voluntary.

If you have any questions regarding research, please speak with your healthcare team.

We are committed to supporting evidence-based practice to improve concussion and traumatic brain injury management, prognosis and outcomes.

Our research initiatives include the following projects:

• Neuromodulation treatments – a) non-invasive brain stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation) for persistent post-concussive symptoms, b) deep brain stimulation for refractory cognitive impairment in moderate-severe TBI
• Functional neuroimaging and neuropsychological profiling of concussion and TBI
• Multidisciplinary rehabilitation for persistent post-concussive symptoms
• Collection of common data clinical variables/questionnaires for concussion patients in Ontario

For more information on our active research studies and potential eligibility please contact our TBI research coordinator erica.reyvas@sri.utoronto.ca.

See our latest publications from Dr. Burke’s lab:

• Sunnybrook Trauma Services
• Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program 
• Patient & Family Education
• Sunnybrook Psychiatry Patient and Family Resources
• Ontario Brain Injury Association
• Brain Injury Society of Toronto