title: Systematic reviews for informing rehabilitation practice: an introduction.
abstract: The research literature that rehabilitation clinicians need to be familiar with has become too large for anyone to read, and numerous published studies are too complex for many practitioners to understand and fruitfully use. One method to keep up with new findings is through systematic reviews. Systematic reviews can be effective tools that help guide rehabilitation practice by identifying the best research that provides the evidence for enhanced clinical decision-making. This article describes how systematic reviews are created, indicates where rehabilitation clinicians may find them, and refers to a resource that may be of use in evaluating their quality and applicability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA. Marcel.dijkers@mssm.edu
authors.forename: Marcel P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Dijkers
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bushnik
authors.forename: Allen W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Heinemann
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.forename: Alex V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Libin
authors.forename: Joann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Starks
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sherer
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vandergoot
mesh_terms: D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D003657:Decision Making; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D012046:Rehabilitation; D012196:Review Literature as Topic