Better Rehabilitation Through Better Characterization of Treatments: Development of the Manual for Rehabilitation Treatment Specification [Methods Study], United States, 2014-2018

Many people have health problems that affect how well they can do normal activities, either for a short time or for their lifetime. These problems may be present from birth or result from illness, injury, or aging. Rehabilitation, or rehab, can help patients regain the ability to do normal activities. Rehab providers include doctors, nurses, psychologists, and physical, occupational, speech, or language therapists.
Rehab treatments often lack a common definition. Rehab providers often name treatments by the type of professional who delivers them or the problem they treat, rather than by the content of the treatment. Also, treatments can vary across rehab providers. Using a standard way to define rehab treatments may help researchers compare these treatments.
In this study, the research team created and tested a manual to help rehab providers use standard ways to define rehab treatments.

许多人群存在影响正常活动能力的健康问题，此类问题或短期存在，或伴随终身。这类健康问题既可能先天存在，也可由疾病、损伤或衰老引发。康复治疗（Rehabilitation，常简称为康复（rehab））可帮助患者恢复正常活动能力。康复服务提供者涵盖医生、护士、心理师，以及物理治疗师、作业治疗师、言语治疗师或语言治疗师。
目前康复治疗普遍缺乏统一的定义。康复服务提供者通常依据实施治疗的专业人员类别或所针对的病症命名治疗方案，而非根据治疗的具体内容。此外，不同康复服务提供者之间的治疗方案也存在显著差异。采用标准化方式定义康复治疗，将有助于研究人员对各类治疗方案进行对比分析。
本研究中，研究团队编制并测试了一份手册，用于协助康复服务提供者采用标准化方式定义康复治疗方案。