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IN THE NEWS

ACRM, CARF International, and Paradigm Announce an Initiative to Disseminate High-Quality, Clinical Guidelines

American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM)

ACRM, CARF International and Paradigm are very pleased to announce an outcomes evidence-based practice initiative to co-fund, develop, translate, brand, and disseminate high-quality, clinical practice guidelines. This initiative will fall under the administration of the ACRM Evidence and Practice Committee (EPC). This committee is comprised of both the Science Subcommittee and the Policy and Dissemination Subcommittee.  CARF International and Paradigm also have input and are active in the Policy and Dissemination Subcommittee.

We are writing to all of the ACRM Special Interest and Networking groups to inform you of this initiative. We are also interested in knowing the following:

  • Current systematic reviews you have underway or planned
  • Guideline development activities underway or planned

We are aware that many of the groups have projects that this initiative may be able to facilitate and move along in a more expedient way.

As partners in this initiative the following would be able to occur:

  • ACRM EPC would facilitate guideline development and dissemination using both internal and contract resources; facilitate a streamlined and defined guideline development process
  • CARF International would disseminate practice guidelines to both accredited organizations and those interested in accreditation and also if possible translate the guidelines into standards as appropriate and track the conformance to those standards over time.
  • Paradigm would disseminate and train providers on guidelines, track adoption and evaluate outcomes against their historical data.

All of the partners are excited about involving all of you in this initiative to leverage resources and expertise to partner on the development of practice guidelines and evidence-based practice products.

If you have systematic reviews or guideline development activities planned or already underway, please see the full article to provide your information: Exciting Opportunity for Guideline Developers.

About the ACRM Evidence & Practice Committee
The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) advocates that rehabilitation programs and individual practitioners base their clinical activities on the best research evidence available. ACRM and its members often have a role in the creation, evaluation and dissemination of evidence. We strive to apply the highest standards of rigor to the evaluation of research evidence and its application in rehabilitation clinical practice. ACRM has established the Evidence and Practice Committee (EPC) – formerly known as the Clinical Practice Committee (CPC) – to provide advice on all issues relevant to the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of evidence and the guidelines/practice parameters that may be based upon it.

The EPC has primary responsibility for evaluating the quality of evidence reviews and evidence-based practice (EBP) recommendations that are disseminated as ACRM practice parameters, systematic reviews, educational reports or position statements and for facilitating the development of such materials in the ACRM environment. The EPC also evaluates all guidelines developed by other organizations proposed for ACRM endorsement and provides recommendations to the ACRM Board of Governors regarding approval. Final endorsement requires ACRM Board approval.

As a component of an interdisciplinary organization, the EPC has reviewed the validity of nationally and internationally respected approaches to evidence synthesis. The EPC has selected the methodology developed by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) as the preferred way of developing guidelines for rehabilitation professionals. While the AAN method is the preferred basis, reviews and guidelines developed using other recognized evidence-based methods such as those of the Cochrane Collaboration, the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) collaboration, Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE), the Institute of Medicine, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will also be considered for ACRM endorsement. The EPC also develops materials and standards to improve the synthesis of research information and its application to rehabilitation in practice.