Outcomes, treatment effectiveness, efficacy, and evidence-based practice: examples from the world of splinting

Calls for outcome studies and evidence-based practice leave many therapists bewildered as to the meaning of various types of terminology. The objectives of this paper are to 1) review the structure of outcome reports and research; 2) describe the background and discuss the terms "treatment efficacy, "effectiveness," and "evidence-based practice"; 3) discuss these concepts as they apply to selected studies found in the literature that report the use of splints for patients with ailments that affect the use of their hands; and 4) provide some reflections that place these terms in the context of scientific inquiry and clinical practice. It is concluded that health care is being reviewed on an increasingly more systematic and grand scale. While studies that include large numbers of subjects are needed to substantiate the effectiveness of splinting, studies involving smaller numbers of subjects can contribute greatly as well, so long as they are performed with the highest level of study design and use standardized outcome measures that are valid for answering the designated research questions.