Library Research Guides: Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation: Find Web Resources

Find Web Resources

American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
The Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee (CPGC) is charged with reviewing, endorsing and advocating for key guidelines critical to the field of PM&R. This committee will scientifically review clinical practice guidelines developed by other organizations for applicability to PM&R.
American College of Rheumatology
Clinical practice guidelines are developed to reduce inappropriate care, minimize geographic variations in practice patterns, and enable effective use of health care resources.
American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine
AANEM guidelines provide evidence based recommendations for the assessment and treatment of muscle and nerve disorders. Adherence to these guidelines will help ensure relevance, efficiency, cost effectiveness, and diagnostic accuracy in the practice of electrodiagnostic (EDX) medicine and quality patient care.
North American Spine Society
NASS develops clinical practice guidelines regarding the diagnosis and treatment of spinal disorders. NASS clinical guidelines offer evidence-based recommendations addressing key clinical questions for specific diagnoses.

*More specific guidelines can be found by searching for particular diseases, conditions, initiatives, or health organizations.

"One effective way to remain engaged and resilient: Increase the connection to our patients wherever possible" (Levine, 2017).

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/opinion/when-doctors-listen.html

"What’s often overlooked is that the simple conversation between doctor and patient can be as potent an analgesic as many treatments we prescribe" (Ofri, 2017).

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/opinion/sunday/the-conversation-placebo.html

"Studies have linked empathy to greater patient satisfaction, better outcomes, decreased physician burnout, and a lower risk of malpractice suits and errors" (Bodman, 2015).

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/how-to-teach-doctors-empathy/387784/

AbleData
AbleData is the premier source for impartial, comprehensive information on products, solutions and resources to improve productivity and ease with life’s tasks. We provide a wealth of information to assist domestic and international customers and their family members, vendors, distributors, organizations, professionals and caregivers in understanding assistive technology (AT) options and programs available.
ADA.gov
The ADA Home Page provides access to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations for businesses and State and local governments, technical assistance materials, ADA Standards for Accessible Design, links to Federal agencies with ADA responsibilities and information, updates on new ADA requirements, streaming video, information about Department of Justice ADA settlement agreements, consent decrees, and enforcement activities and access to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ADA material.
Medical Rehabilitation Research Resource Network
The MR3 Network is made up of six resource centers nationwide whose mission is to support rehabilitation researchers.
PEDro
PEDro is the Physiotherapy Evidence Database, a free database of over 43,000 randomised trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.
REHABDATA
REHABDATA, produced by the National Rehabilitation Information Center, is the leading literature database on disability and rehabilitation.

American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R)
As the primary medical society for the specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R), the Academy is focused on moving the specialty and you forward.
American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM)
ARCM is a vibrant group with diverse individual backgrounds from all over the world - all united with the common interests in rehabilitation and evidence-based medicine research to enhance the lives of those with disabling conditions.
Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP)
The Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) is an organization of physiatry professionals who are dedicated to improving patient care by advancing the specialty through research and education.

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Evaluate Your Sources

Before using any information you should critically evaluate source, especially if it is from a website. Consider:

WHO?
- Who created this resource? In what way(s) are they qualified to speak about this topic? In what way(s) are they potentially biased?
WHAT?
- What is the resource content actually addressing? Does it balance conflicting points of view?
WHEN?
- When was the resource created? Is there a more current resource that could be used? Was the resource ever updated or maintained?
WHERE?
- Where was this resource published? Is the publisher reputable?
- Where did the author(s) get their information from? Do they accurately cite their sources?
- Where does the resource fall under the evidence pyramid?
- Where does it fit into the current scholarly conversation about your topic?
WHY?
- Why did the author create the resource? What purpose does the resource have? Who is it intended for?
- Why did you choose this source? In what way(s) does it match your research question?

Trust and Credibility in Web-Based Health Information: A Review and Agenda for Future Research
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2017-06-19, Volume 19, Number 6, Pages e218
The article seeks to present a profile of the research conducted on trust and credibility in Web-based health information (WHI) seeking, to identify the factors that impact judgments of trustworthiness and credibility, and to explore the role of demographic factors affecting trust formation.
Consumer Evaluation of the Quality of Online Health Information: Systematic Literature Review of Relevant Criteria and Indicators
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2019-05-02, Volume 21, Number 5, Pages e12522
This review aims to identify how consumers assign value and worth to health information on the internet and what information they use to support this evaluation. Using this information, the authors try to provide guidelines for designing consumer health information systems.
Consumers’ Evaluation of Web-Based Health Information Quality: Meta-analysis
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2022-04-28, Volume 24, Number 4, Pages e36463
This paper aims to identify the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ evaluation of web-based health information quality as a means to consolidate the related research stream and to inform future studies on web-based health information quality.

Ask yourself whether the resource you found applies to your clinical question. To evaluate it, you can use the PICO framework:

P	Patient/Problem	How would you describe a group of patients similar to yours? What are the most important characteristics of the patient?
I	Intervention/Exposure/Prognostic Factor	What main intervention are you considering? What do you want to do with this patient?
C	Comparison	What is the main alternative being considered, if any?
O	Outcome	What are you trying to accomplish, measure, improve or affect?

Once you've chosen a resource to use in your research, you need to delve into the details of the article in order to figure out whether it's an applicable and reputable source. The resources listed below can help you with the critical appraisal process.

CASP Checklists (Critical Appraisal Skills Program)
This set of eight critical appraisal tools are designed to be used when reading research.
CATmaker (Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine)
CATmaker is a computer-assisted critical appraisal tool, which helps you create Critically Appraised Topics (CATs), for the key articles you encounter about Therapy, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Aetiology/Harm and Systematic Reviews of Therapy.
Critical Appraisal Worksheets (Duke Medical Center Library & Archives)
Appraisal worksheets from the medical school at Duke University.