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Background Providing rehabilitation services in primary health care (PHC) is associated with numerous health, social, and economic benefits. Therefore, low and middle-income countries, such as Iran, should benefit from the advantages of integrating rehabilitation services into PHC. We conducted a qualitative study to determine policy solutions that could facilitate the integration of rehabilitation services into Iran’s PHC network. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 participants, including health policymakers, rehabilitation managers, faculty members, and rehabilitation practitioners. Purposive and snowball sampling strategies were adopted to recruit participants. The WHO Health System building blocks framework analysis was applied to analyze the collected data. Results Participants’ perspectives and experiences outlined potential policy options including: (1) stewardship: increasing political support, strengthening the leadership of the rehabilitation sector, and promoting inter-sectoral collaborations; (2) service delivery: increasing the knowledge of healthcare professionals, using local volunteers, deploying mobile rehabilitation teams, using telerehabilitation, and improving referral pathways; (3) financing: increasing government funding, preparing a package of rehabilitation services, and using appropriate payment mechanisms; (4) human resources: expanding rehabilitation workforce, training rehabilitation assistants, and enhancing employment and social opportunities; (5) information systems: establishing a comprehensive information system and an effective surveillance system; and (6) technologies: facilitating access to a range of rehabilitation equipment and raw materials, especially for prosthetics and orthotics services. Conclusion Based on the WHO six building blocks framework, this study identified several policy options for integrating rehabilitation services into the Iranian PHC Network. Some of the policy options include increasing political support, promoting inter-sectoral collaborations, increasing the skills and knowledge of healthcare workers, establishing effective referral pathways, strengthening team-working, and increasing government funding.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has the strategic priority of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), that means "all people receive quality health services that meet their needs without being exposed to financial hardship in paying for the services". UHC includes rehabilitation among the services to be provided. As part of the WHO Rehabilitation 2030 call for action, the WHO Rehabilitation Programme is developing its Package of Interventions for Rehabilitation (PIR) (formerly “Package of Rehabilitation Interventions (PRI)”) to support ministries of health in integrating rehabilitation services into health systems. The development of the PIR takes a stepwise approach3 using six steps. Step one was to select the health conditions. The second step requires the identification of interventions for rehabilitation and related evidence for the health conditions selected in the first step. Afterwards there will be a selection of evidence-based rehabilitation interventions (step 3), description of equipment and workforce required for interventions (step 4), standardization of information on rehabilitation interventions (step 5) and finally production of Alpha Version of the PIR (step 6). In this article, we performed the second step, here referred to as “Best Evidence for Rehabilitation” (be4rehab), identification of interventions for rehabilitation and related evidence. The WHO Rehabilitation Programme and Cochrane Rehabilitation have developed the corresponding methods under the guidance of WHO’s guideline review committee secretariat and are collaborating in conducting this second step. Be4rehab includes a series of systematic reviews on Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) for the different health conditions. Interventions and related evidence are identified from these CPGs. The identified interventions will undergo a consensus process before being included in the final PIR. The WHO requested to identify interventions for rehabilitation and related evidence and interventions from high quality CPGs related to individuals with amputation. The main objective of this article is to report on the results of the systematic search performed to identify interventions and related evidence for rehabilitation of individuals with amputation based on the current evidence from CPGs.

The present work is an overview of Cochrane systematic reviews, which compiles and synthesizes the quality and quantity of available evidence on the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions for persons with cerebral palsy.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-nnr-10.1177_15459683221093587 for Rehabilitation Definition for Research Purposes. A Global Stakeholders’ Initiative by Cochrane Rehabilitation by Stefano Negrini, Melissa Selb, Carlotte Kiekens, Alex Todhunter-Brown, Chiara Arienti, Gerold Stucki, Thorsten Meyer and 3rd Cochrane Rehabilitation Methodology Meeting participants in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair

After approval by Cochrane Steering Group, Cochrane Rehabilitation has been launched on 16th December 2016. The aim of Cochrane Rehabilitation is to bridge between Cochrane and Rehabilitation stakeholders, systematically identifying and spreading evidence, but also improving its quality and quantity production per clinical needs.Cochrane Rehabilitation is a network of individuals, coming from all continents. Therefore, a clear and well-structured organisation is required to make Cochrane Rehabilitation functioning effectively.Up to now 272 people from 52 countries expressed their willingness to collaborate. The Field Director will be directly responsible for the Knowledge Translation strategy and will be assisted by the Executive Committee, including the Chairs of the Committees (Review Tagging, Methodology, Publication, Communication, Education). The Field Coordinator will ensure the implementation of a networking strategy and coordination of activities between the Committees, Units and individual members. The Advisory Board includes key persons from different international stakeholders, recognised as opinion leaders in rehabilitation.Cochrane Rehabilitation is working to drive, on one side, evidence and methods developed by Cochrane to the world of Rehabilitation and, on the other, to convey priorities, needs and specificities of Rehabilitation to Cochrane.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to study if randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in rehabilitation (a field where complex interventions prevail) published in main journals include all the details needed to replicate the intervention in clinical practice (clinical replicability). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Forty-seven rehabilitation clinicians of 5 professions from 7 teams (Belgium, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Puerto Rico, the USA) reviewed 76 RCTs published by main rehabilitation journals exploring 14 domains chosen through consensus and piloting. RESULTS: The response rate was 99%. Inter-rater agreement was moderate/good. All clinicians considered unanimously 12 (16%) RCTs clinically replicable and none not replicable. At least one "absent" information was found by all participants in 60 RCTs (79%), and by a minimum of 85% in the remaining 16 (21%). Information considered to be less well described (8-19% "perfect" information) included two providers (skills, experience) and two delivery (cautions, relationships) items. The best described (50-79% "perfect") were the classic methodological items included in CONSORT (descending order: participants, materials, procedures, setting, and intervention). CONCLUSION: Clinical replicability must be considered in RCTs reporting, particularly for complex interventions. Classical methodological checklists such as CONSORT are not enough, and also Template for Intervention Description and Clinical replication do not cover all the requirements. This study supports the need for field-specific checklists. ispartof: JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY vol:114 pages:108-117 ispartof: location:United States status: published

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition and a challenge for every health system and every society. This EBPP represents the official position of the European Union through the UEMS PRM Section and designates the professional role of PRM physicians for people with SCI. The aim of the paper was to improve Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) physicians' professional practice for persons with SCI in order to improve their functionality, social and community reintegration, and to overcome activity limitations and/or participation restrictions. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A systematic review of the literature and a consensus procedure by means of a Delphi process have been performed involving the delegates of all European countries represented in the UEMS PRM Section. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: The systematic literature review is reported together with thirty-eight recommendations resulting from the Delphi procedure. CONCLUSIONS: The professional role of PRM physicians who have expertise in the rehabilitation of SCI is to nm rehabilitation programmes in multi-professional teams, working in an interdisciplinary way in a variety of settings to improve the functioning of people with SCI.

The White Book (WB) of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) in Europe is produced by the 4 European PRM Bodies (European Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine - EARM, European Society of PRM - ESPRM, European Union of Medical Specialists - PRM Section, European College of PRM-ECPRM served by the European Union of Medical Specialists-PRM Board) and constitutes the reference book for PRM physicians in Europe. It has now reached its third edition; the first was published in 1989 and the second in 2006/2007. The WB has multiple purposes, including providing a unifying framework for European countries, to inform decision-makers on European and national level, to offer educational material for PRM trainees and physicians and information about PRM to the medical community, other rehabilitation professionals and the public. The WB states the importance of PRM, a primary medical specialty that is present all over Europe, with a specific corpus disciplinae, a common background and history throughout Europe. PRM is internationally recognized and a partner of major international bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO). PRM activities are strongly based on the documents of the United Nations (UN) and WHO, such as the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), the World Report on Disability (2011), the WHO Global Disability Action Plan 2014-2021 (2014) and the WHO initiative "Rehabilitation 2030: a call for action" (2017). The WB is organized in 4 sections, 11 chapters and some appendices. The WB starts with basic definitions and concepts of PRM and continues with why rehabilitation is needed by individuals and society. Rehabilitation focuses not only on health conditions but also on functioning. Accordingly. PRM is the medical specialty that strives to improve functioning of people with a health condition or experiencing disability. The fundamentals of PRM, the history of the PRM specialty, and the structure and activities of PRM organizations in Europe are presented, followed by a thorough presentation of the practice of PRM, i.e. knowledge and skills of PRM physicians, the clinical field of competence of PRM, the place of the PRM specialty in the healthcare system and society, education and continuous professional development of PRM physicians, specificities and challenges of science and research in PRM. The WB concludes with the way forward for the specialty: challenges and perspectives for the future of PRM.

BACKGROUND: Physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM) is well established in Europe and officially recognized by the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). The European PRM Board works to promote patient safety and quality of care through the development of the highest standards of medical training and healthcare across Europe as well as the harmonization of PRM specialists' qualifications. In its Action Plan for 2014-2018, the UEMS PRM Board has included the harmonization of the PRM curriculum among the EU countries, as one of its main goals. Based on a European Directive, the Belgian Superior Council is envisaging a reform of the PRM curriculum. AIM: The aim of this paper is to present the current situation of PRM education in Europe according to the survey carried out by the Belgium Task Force. DESIGN: An online survey was posted on May 3rd 2015 to all delegates of the UEMS PRM Section and Board. Two questions were formulated: 1) What is the duration and curriculum of PRM training in your country? 2) Does a Postgraduate Rehabilitation training exist for other medical specialties? RESULTS: The majority of the PRM training programs in Europe have a duration ranging from 4 to 5 years, and are not aiming at downsizing the duration to the European minimal training period of 3 years. The vast majority (70%) of the responding countries don't offer an additional accreditation of Rehabilitation for other medical specialties CONCLUSIONS: Comparing PRM training programs in Europe can support the long-awaited reform of the PRM postgraduate curriculum in Belgium and gives perspective to agree on a transparent and comparable specialty training throughout Europe. Providing a more comparable training promotes the establishment of PRM and its rehabilitation service provisions in the world.

Systematic reviews are a powerful method for summarizing and synthesizing evidence and create a methodological opportunity for preparing data integration tables to enable review-level synthesis of the evidence. One of the main tasks of Cochrane Rehabilitation is to make it possible to improve the application of evidence-based clinical practice by all rehabilitation professionals, and to facilitate policy-makers in decision-making according to the best evidence. In this context arises the need to diffuse the high-quality information of Cochrane Systematic Reviews (CSR), through synthetic and easy-to-use messages for the different rehabilitation audiences. Cochrane Rehabilitation has recently launched the production of an eBook including all the evidence coming from the CSR tagged by its Review Committee as of rehabilitation interest with the final aim to enhance the application of evidence in clinical practice, medical education, health system policies, and in the community. This will be a powerful tool for the dissemination of evidence-based practice, education and knowledge, as well as to support political decisions for both effective organization and resource allocation in rehabilitation field.