A RADICAL GRADIENT FOR RESEARCH AMONG REHABILITATION PROFESSIONALS

Revolution in practice is required among the professionals of rehab members in holistic team while working parallel with each other for inhibition, development, refurbishment and decline of functioning among clients along with effective service delivery system. This describes the focus of rehab professional on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICD) model of disability. 

Rehab professionals move from lab to clinical practice and community is actually an interchange of conservative investigation pattern to translational research mode, not just the implementing research outcome but also evolving the guidelines for healthier service model.

 Professional locally has understood the significance of evidence based practiced though the carter to attain translational research is still at T1 and T2 phase which is from bench to bedside. Mostly the research activities involves around the implementation of knowledge in to practice or combination of effective interventions. Among the rehab professionals the pace of evidence based practiced is faster among the physiotherapist whereas the other members of team such as Occupational therapist, speech therapist and psychotherapist are at very initial stage. It could be the curriculum advancement, unavailability of learning resources and lack of professional awareness not only in general population but also among the health care provider.

World Health Organization WHO reflected the role of rehab professional in the agenda 2030 that due to increase in number of population suffering from chronic disease, rehabilitation is one of the priorities for health care strategies for augmentation of functioning among people. The possibilities of attaining 2030 target of WHO revolves around the unearthing areas of improvement and development at national level in the field of rehabilitation. 

One of the research evident that more than 50% of the people in low and middle income country do not receive the rehabilitation service though it’s required for optimizing the function. A robust multidisciplinary workforce is required that entails concept rehabilitation in the service model, enhance educational standards, ultimately bridging the gap between the knowledge and practice through research and its application at wider horizon. The prospect of research should move ahead from the very basic findings of theoretical concepts to assessment strategies, effective intervention and its execution on population to keep it culturally diversified and the context of local need will also be sustained. 

The purpose of this editorial is to highlight the gaps in research areas and collaboration between rehab professionals to develop the national guidelines and mass effectiveness. Pakistan Journal Of Rehabilitation (PJR) sciences has this distinct element that provides podium for diverse rehab professionals to promote new innovative ideas referring to T1 phase up till T4 phase of translational research. This particular edition of 2021 engrossed original research articles that mostly based on the knowledge, perception, correlation, efficacy of rehabilitation strategies in the clinical field and in general population from different rehab areas. Where it is providing the basic evidences regarding intervention to the practitioners it is also   kindling the innovation and collaborations among the rehab team colleagues to bring the effective intervention strategies for maximizing functional capacity of the client in order to promote optimized participation. 

PJR is a leading edge in national rehabilitation sector that look forward the rehab research labs to move forward by adapting translational model where not just the doctors and rehab team but the biomedical engineer, rehabilitation nurses and the vocational therapist may also work together on mutual goals that is optimize functioning among the clients. Since PJR has already brought the multidisciplinary team closer to each other in terms of expression of their work so it is not very far that rehab research labs will be a realty in Pakistan.

Rehab research lab will dominantly be focusing the relation between physiological, physical and functional relationship for optimizing human function. It will also encompass the psychosocial model along with technologies for a comeback to life at its maximum and become independent functional being. Multiple innovative labs could be developing such as gait lab, cognitive lab, sensory integration lab, bio-rehab lab….

The predicted challenges for transformation on translational research model from current practicing frame work would be the gap between clinicians and researchers, facilitators and the practicing professionals since major amount of knowledge that is shared with students is never implemented during practice which is profound  lacking. The other major hindrance will be the culture where conventional models are so deep rooted that presumptuous efforts would be required to accept the new findings and practice them for health improvement.  

Though PJR has done a tremendous job to overcome the distances among professionals in expressing their ideas and correlating within the team members but a rehab research lab would be a cherry on the top to acquire Translational model of research in to reality for improved health care provision.

Ms. Neelum Zehra

BSOT, TBSOT, PGD (HCM), ADOT

VP/HOD Occupational Therapy

ZCRS, Ziauddin University

Karachi, Pakistan.

DOI: 10.36283/pjr.zu.10.2/001

 

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