Incorporating evidence-based rehabilitation into clinical practice guidelines

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Clinical Practice Guidelines
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Rehabilitation's effectiveness is often overlooked in clinical practice guidelines.
• A need existed to systematically incorporate rehabilitation evidence into national guidelines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop processes for integrating rehabilitation evidence and best practices into the Finnish Current Care Guidelines.
• To enhance the representation of rehabilitation and functional capacity within national healthcare guidelines.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive assessment approach was employed over a 3-year period (2012-2014 and subsequent years).
• The project involved assessing existing rehabilitation evidence and consulting Finnish rehabilitation experts.
• Tools were developed for guideline editors, and ongoing monitoring of rehabilitation evidence was conducted.

Main Results:

• Rehabilitation was incorporated into 31 out of 54 published guidelines between 2012-2014, with evidence summaries increasing from 49 to 164.
• In the following three years, rehabilitation was included in 24 of 41 new guidelines, and evidence summaries rose from 78 to 136.
• The project demonstrated a substantial increase in the evidence base for rehabilitation within the guidelines.

Conclusions:

• The study established consistent evidence criteria for rehabilitative interventions, matching those for symptomatic or curative treatments.
• There was a significant enhancement in the evidence supporting the effectiveness of rehabilitation during the project's duration.
• The project successfully improved the integration of rehabilitation into national clinical practice guidelines.