Abstract: Objective: To analyze the effectiveness of a "doctor-nurse-healthcare assistant" collaborative management protocol for critically ill neurological patients in unaccompanied wards of the rehabilitation department, so as to provide references for improving the quality of care for such patients. Methods: A collaborative management protocol was developed through literature review and expert meetings. Eighty-six patients admitted to the neurological rehabilitation department of a tertiary grade A hospital in Hunan province and their family caregivers were conveniently selected as study subjects. They were divided into a control group (n=42) and an intervention group (n=44) according to admission time. The control group received conventional unaccompanied care, while the intervention group received the collaborative management intervention. Differences between the two groups were compared in terms of patients' hospital satisfaction, incidence of adverse events, activities of daily living, and anxiety levels of family caregivers. Results: Following the intervention, the hospital satisfaction score of patients in the intervention group was 36.84±4.20, which was higher than that of the control group (32.43±6.98), and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The score of activities of daily living in the intervention group was higher than that in the control group, while the incidence of adverse events and the anxiety score of patients' family caregivers were lower than those in the control group, with all differences statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: The doctor-nurse-healthcare assistant collaborative management protocol can not only effectively improve patients' hospital satisfaction and ability of activities of daily living, but also reduce the incidence of adverse events, and alleviate family caregivers anxiety, demonstrating high value for further clinical promotion.

Key words: healthcare assistant; unaccompanied care; collaborative management; rehabilitation